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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2005 0302 CC REG ITEM 09ETE q • E. CITY OF MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA Clty Councll Meeting os- AC11ON: Moorpark City Counci a Agenda Report TO: Honorable City Council FROM. Kenneth C. Gilbert, Director of Public Works C DATE: February 17, 2005 (CC Meeting of 3 -2 -05) SUBJECT: Consider Changes to the Street Sweeping Schedule, the Related Parking Restrictions and the Parking Permit Issuance Policies and Procedures BACKGROUND The subject proposed changes were discussed by the City Council in December of last year. The City Council referred the matter to the Transportation and Streets Committee [Councilmembers Harper and Millhouse]. At that meeting, the City Council also asked staff to prepare a report evaluating "In- House" vs. contract street sweeping services. That report is being presented to the City Council on this date as a separate item. DISCUSSION A. Street Sweepinq Parking Restrictions: Histor Weekly street sweeping parking restrictions were adopted by the City Council in 1995. These parking restrictions have greatly improved the effectiveness and efficiency of our street sweeping program. B. Parking Restrictions / Sweeping Schedule The current program calls for a four -hour per week parking restriction (i.e. Thursday 8:00 am to 12:00 p.m.) even though most streets are only swept every other week. This mismatch between the sweeping schedule and the posted parking restrictions often becomes a source of confusion and problems for both the public and parking enforcement efforts. Some Sweeping-0503a 000214 Street Sweeping / Parking Restriction Schedule March 2, 2005 Page 2 people illegally park on the street on "off" weeks, thinking that the signs will not be enforced. In that such "selective" enforcement is somewhat problematic, citations are sometimes issued on those "off" days. These problems could be avoided if the parking restrictions and the sweeping were better coordinated. It should be noted that the City Council considered this situation between the sweeping schedule and parking restrictions, when the parking restrictions were established. One of the reasons cited in support of the present system was to attempt to make an impact on problems related to over- crowding and long -term storage of vehicles in the roadway. C. Twice per Month Schedule It is recommended herein that consideration be given to changing both the sweeping schedule and the parking restrictions to a twice per month schedule (i.e. 1st & 3rd Thursday). The pros and cons of such an action include: 1. Pro: a. This change should eliminate any confusion about when the restricted parking actually relates to the street sweeping operation. Except for holidays, the streets would be swept every time the parking is prohibited. This would eliminate the source of much the current confusion about these programs. b. This change would reduce the number of sweeps from the current twenty -six (26) to twenty -four (24) - reducing program costs about $6,500 per year. 2. Con: a. This change would require the street sweeper to perform "re- sweeps" or "make -up" sweeps (for rain days or equipment problems) on days when cars are parked on the street. Currently the sweeper has the option of performing such work on the "off" week when the parking restriction is still applicable. b. Reducing the number of sweeps to twenty -four (24) times per year would result in a slight decrease in service level. It should be noted, however, that this reduced service level still meets the city's NPDES obligations. c. Changing the days and times for the parking restrictions would require placing decals on all the signs. The estimated cost of these decals is $1000, plus labor costs (estimated to be $700). Sweeping-0503a 000215 Street Sweeping / Parking Restriction Schedule March 2, 2005 Page 3 D. Coordination and Communication Staff recently made changes to the ways in which the street sweeping program and the related parking restriction enforcement efforts are administered. These efforts include the issuance of Press Releases to better advise the public of changes to the schedule. E. Parkinq Permit Administration It is the view of staff that improvements could be made to the way we administer the issuance of parking permits exempting vehicles from the street sweeping parking restrictions. Those suggested changes are summarized as follows: 1. Guidelines: The Resolution establishing the street sweeping parking restrictions sets forth certain Guidelines for the issuance of "Parking Permits" exempting vehicles from the parking restriction. Until only recently, staff has been faithfully following these Guidelines when considering requests for Parking Permits. Such strict adherence to those Guidelines has caused customer service and public relations problems when applicants were denied a permit. With the knowledge that the purpose of the program was not to make it difficult to get a permit but to reduce the number of cars at the curb on sweeping day, staff has recently taken administrative action to issue parking permits for any reasonable request. Permits will not be issued to facilitate habitual or repetitive circumvention of the program purposes. It is recommended below that the current language in these administrative policies and procedures be revised to "legitimize" this administrative latitude. 2. Permit Fee: The Resolution establishing the street sweeping parking restrictions also establishes a $25 permit fee for anyone requesting a second permit within a twelve (12) month period. This requirement also causes customer service and public relations problems and it is recommended that the fee requirements be eliminated. 3. Maxi*mim Number of Permits per Year: The Resolution also sets the maximum number of permits per year at three (3). Although we have had only a few requests which have exceeded this cap, in the view of staff a cap of six (6) would better meet customer services objectives while having little adverse impact on the street sweeping program. Sweeping-0503a 000216 Street Sweeping / Parking Restriction Schedule March 2, 2005 Page 4 F. Committee Review The Transportation and Streets Committee [Councilmembers Harper and Millhouse] discussed these matters at their meeting of February 7, 2005. The Committee recommend implementation of the changes summarized below. G. Summary Recommended Changes A summary of the program changes discussed in this report is as follows: .......................................................... ............................... Item: Recommended Changes: 1. Street Sweeping ;Change the street sweeping schedule to Schedule twice per month. 2. Parking i !Change the parking restrictions to Restrictions coincide with the street sweeping schedule. ... ......................... ......................... ............................ .................................. ...................................................... 3. Permit Issuance: ............................... .... Direct staff to implement language Guidelines changes to the Parking Permit Issuance 'Guidelines, as described in Section E : ................................................. . ............. . .............................. . . . . . . . . . . . ............................ . ......... of this report. .................... . . .......................................... . . . . . . . . ........... . .......... . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............. . . .............. . ................... . ...... ....................................... ... ... ... ... . . . . . .............. : RECODMENDATION Staff and the Transportation and Streets Committee recommend that the City Council direct staff to implement the program changes described in this report. Sweeping-0503a 000217