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After broad public input, council advances residential parking-permit ordinance with several amendments
Summary
After hours of public testimony and council debate, the council moved to advance the residential parking permit (RPP) ordinance (first reading) with direction to staff to remove the neighborhood-petition initiation path, tighten documentation and eligibility rules, require fees for permits, and return with updated ordinance language.
The City Council held a lengthy first-reading discussion on a proposed residential parking permit (RPP) ordinance on March 18, 2025, hearing more than a dozen public comments and debating signature thresholds, enforcement and program design.
Hexagon consultant Michelle Hunt described the ordinance framework: the RPP allows neighborhoods with at least 75% on-street occupancy during peak periods to apply for permit zones, either via a resident petition or council initiation; petitions require signatures from 67% of residences in each block to proceed; staff would collect parking data and survey residents before a final council resolution to create a permit area. “The residential parking permit program is intended to regulate and manage residential on-street parking,” Hunt said during the presentation.
Public commenters offered mixed views. Supporters said overcrowding, blocked driveways and emergency access problems make permit parking necessary; opponents worried about enforcement, permit resale and spillover. Councilmembers debated removing the neighborhood petition pathway and instead using council-initiated zones, clarifying definitions of commercial and oversized vehicles, requiring proof of address on permit documentation, and setting fees rather than granting a free permit. Several councilmembers favored dividing the city into zones and limiting the number of issued permits per zone to preserve vacancy.
Council ultimately directed staff to prepare ordinance changes that would strike the petition initiation pathway, require documentation showing addresses within the permit area, make permits fee-based (with fee amounts to be set by resolution), and explicitly prohibit issuing permits to vehicles with delinquent citations, expired registration, or those registered as commercial/RV/oversized vehicles. The ordinance remains in first-reading status; staff will return with an amended draft for second reading and adoption, and a staff report and fee study to inform implementation timelines and enforcement options.
