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Berkeley model for overnight on‑street parking wins council attention; staff to explore local adaptation
Summary
Berkeley staff outlined an annual and temporary on‑street overnight parking permit program (per‑plate, hardship review, fee structure) that reduced targeted overnight street parking by 37% in the first year. Clawson staff will form a working group to adapt the model and draft an ordinance.
Clawson council members heard a presentation May 5 from Berkeley staff about that city’s on‑street overnight parking program and directed staff to explore a similar local approach.
Berkeley’s Community Development Director Kristen Kaplansky and Lieutenant Kopernick described a program adopted in August 2024 that allows on‑street parking between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. for vehicles registered with an annual or temporary pass. The program limits passes by plate (15 temporary uses per plate per year), applies a hardship review handled by public safety (corner lots, driveways under 8 feet, disability needs and other criteria), and dedicates fees to a municipal parking maintenance fund.
Key numbers from Berkeley: about 30 annual passes issued in the first 13 months, approximately $5,200 raised for a maintenance fund, and counts showing a 37% reduction in vehicles parked overnight between 2–5 a.m. The annual pass was $400 initially and prorated to $200 after May 31 in response to resident feedback; temporary software costs were modest ($1,000 initially).
Council members asked about caps per street block, handling of commercial vehicles and RVs, limits on vehicle tonnage, and administrative flexibility. Berkeley staff said the program treats public streets as first‑come public spaces (no block‑level cap used in their rollout), excludes heavy commercial vehicles by tonnage thresholds, and moved many operational details into an adopted parking policy so the council can update administrative rules without reworking ordinance language. Councilmember questions focused on equity and whether the hardship review is sufficiently rigorous; staff said few applications were denied in Berkeley’s small‑scale rollout.
Next steps: Clawson staff and the police chief will form an internal group to replicate Berkeley’s model where appropriate and return with a draft ordinance and policy for council consideration.
Why it matters: Councilors said the model could help residents with temporary household parking pressures (for example when a household gains a teenage driver) while still enabling enforcement for sidewalk obstruction and snow‑emergency management.
