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Council hears staff concerns on disabled-parking ordinance C-36854; first reading deferred to April 27
Summary
City staff and council discussed draft ordinance C-36854 to create reserved disabled parking in the public right-of-way. Staff cited state-law limits, ADA applicability to parking facilities rather than curbside stalls, verification and enforcement challenges and the need for a local permit program; council deferred first reading to April 27 for further work.
The Spokane City Council and staff discussed draft ordinance C-36854, a proposal to formalize reserved disabled parking spaces in public right-of-way. Staff and code-enforcement officials outlined legal and operational hurdles and recommended further work before council takes first reading.
Luis Garcia of code enforcement explained that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) governs parking facilities (off-street), and there is currently no federal standard prescribing curbside accessible stalls on the public right-of-way. ‘‘There is not a federal standard for accessible parking in the right of way yet,’’ Garcia said, noting that jurisdictions are discussing such standards but that guidance does not specify how many curbside spaces would be required.
Staff said enforcement likely would fall to parking enforcement, not immediate towing, and that a successful program would need a permit or verification step (for example, recording a permanent placard number) to prevent misuse. Presenters advised studying approaches used in Tacoma and Seattle and considering a city-issued permit tied to placard verification.
Councilmembers asked practical questions about enforcement timeliness, whether the city would issue identifiers versus relying on physician-issued placards, and fiscal consequences of increased enforcement activity. Given those concerns and a planned work group meeting later in the week, the council voted to defer the March 30 first-reading of C-36854 to April 27 to allow staff to refine the proposal and meet with stakeholders.
The council also agreed to a one-week deferral for two ordinances that were omitted from the posted final-reading agenda and then approved the amended agenda by voice vote.
