HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance #4192 ORDINANCE NO. 4192
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH
ADDING SECTION 10.40.265 TO CHAPTER 10.60 OF THE HUNTINGTON
BEACH MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO DISABLED PARKING
PLACARDS AND LICENSE PLATES
WHEREAS, California Vehicle Code Section 22511.57 authorizes the City to prohibit
vehicles with a disabled person's placard or special license plate from parking on streets or
public or private offstreet parking lots where Department of Motor Vehicle records indicate: (1)
the placard or plate is expired, revoked, or stolen; (2) the vehicle is not being used to transport
the person authorized to be transported in the vehicle with the special placard or plate; or, (3) the
plate or placard is counterfeit, altered or mutilated;
WHEREAS, California Vehicle Code Section 40203.5(c)(1) states that parking penalties
for a violation of an ordinance or resolution adopted pursuant to Section 22511.57 shall be
collected as a civil penalty of not less than $250 and not more than $1,000. Section 40203.6(a)
adds that the City shall levy an additional assessment equal to 10 percent of the penalty
established pursuant to Section 40203.5, which assessment shall be deposited with the City;
WHEREAS, California Vehicle Code Section 40203.5(c)(1) states that any peace officer,
or any regularly employed and salaried employee engaged in directing traffic or enforcing
parking laws and regulations of the City, may remove and have towed any vehicle in violation of
the City Ordinance prohibiting misuse of disabled person's placard or special license plate
pursuant to Vehicle Code Section 22511.57;
WHEREAS, the Legislature in enacting California Vehicle Code Section 22511.57 in
1994 stated that passage of Section 22511.57 would help eliminate "some measure of placard
abuse thereby increase the availability of parking for those using legitimate placards as well as
the general public," as the misuse of disabled placards belonging to unauthorized persons had
reached "extremely high levels in urban areas where parking is in short supply," not only
limiting the available parking for disabled persons using legitimate placards, but also depressing
the parking revenue collections of local agencies;
WHEREAS, 25 years after Section 22511.57 was enacted, the misuse of disabled
placards and license plates continues to remain at high levels in the City, depriving legitimately
disabled drivers of reserved parking spaces close to their destinations, cheating the City out of
public revenue, and allowing illegal users of disabled placards to occupy high-demand parking
spots for free all day with no incentive to limit their stay;
WHEREAS, the misuse of disabled placards and license plates harms merchants in
business districts, because there is no turnover of needed parking spaces when people improperly
park all day in front of the same store, or on the same blocks in these districts, discouraging
customers from visiting and shopping in the area;
COrdinarice No.4192
WHEREAS, a person illegally using a disabled placard or license plate deprives a
disabled person from finding or accessing a disabled space, which is designed to provide the
extra room needed for a disabled person who requires the assistance of a wheel chair or other
mobility device to safely enter or exit a vehicle, or to safely maneuver a wheelchair or other
mobility devise onto a sidewalk or other surface reserved for public ingress and egress;
WHEREAS, a person illegally using a disabled placard or license plate in order to park in
a reserved space in close proximity to the entrance of a building creates a tremendous physical
hardship on a disabled person whose physical disability prevents the person from walking for
more than a very short distance;
WHEREAS, illegal use of reserved parking spaces for the disabled diminishes the quality
of life not only for the physically disabled, but also for all residents of the City;
WHEREAS, setting the maximum penalty under state law for a violation of any
subsection of Section 22511.57 is necessary since current City fines for misuse of a disabled
placard have not had a sufficient deterrent effect in reducing the illegal use of disabled placards
in the City; and
WHEREAS, reserved parking spaces for the disabled allow persons with limited mobility
to access all parties of the City in order to fully participate, benefit, and contribute to community
life within the City.
Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach does hereby ordain
as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 10.40.265 is hereby added to the Huntington Beach Municipal
Code to read as follows:
10.40.265 Misuse of Disabled Person Placard or License Plate
A. This Section is enacted pursuant to California Vehicle Code Section 22511.57
authorizing local authorities to enforce the misuse of placards and special
license plates intended for disabled persons or disabled veterans, as parking
violations instead of misdemeanors.
B. No person shall park or stand a vehicle on a street or highway, or in a parking
stall or space in a privately or publicly owned or operated offstreet parking
facility when the vehicle displays, in order to obtain special parking privileges, a
disabled person placard or license plate, and any of the following conditions are
met:
1. The records of the Department of Motor Vehicles for the identification
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216347/19-8069/SFF
Ordinance No. 41.92
1. The records of the Department of Motor Vehicles for the identification
number assigned to the placard or license plate indicate that the placard
or license plate has been reported as lost, stolen, surrendered, cancelled,
revoked, or expired, or was issued to a person who has been reported as
deceased for a period exceeding 60 days; or
2. The placard or license plate is displayed on a vehicle that is not being
used to transport, and is not in the reasonable proximity of,the person to
whom the license plate or placard was issued or a person who is
authorized to be transported in the vehicle displaying the placard or
license plate; or
3. The placard or license plate is counterfeit, forged, altered, or mutilated.
C. Notwithstanding Section_ 1.16.010 of the Municipal Code, a violation of this
Section is subject to a civil penalty established by Resolution of the City
Council, and is not an infraction.
D. A vehicle parked in violation of this Section is not only subject to a civil
penalty, but alternatively or in addition to may be towed pursuant to California
Vehicle Code Section 22652.6. Any peace officer or any regularly employed
and salaried employee engaged in directing traffic or enforcing parking laws and
regulations of the City may initiate the tow of the vehicle.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach at a
regular meeting thereof held on the 16th day of December , 2019.
µ May r
ATTEST,::
APPROVED FORD/,
City Clerk
City Attorney Mil/
flLAN A OVED: INITIATED AND Mil/City
D:
'City Manager Chief of Police
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216347/19-8069/SFF
Ord. No. 4192
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) ss:
CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH )
I, ROBIN ESTANISLAU, the duly elected, qualified City Clerk of the
City of Huntington Beach, and ex-officio Clerk of the City Council of said City, do
hereby certify that the whole number of members of the City Council of the City of
Huntington Beach is seven; that the foregoing ordinance was read to said City Council at
a Regular meeting thereof held on November 18, 2019, and was again read to said City
Council at a Regular meeting thereof held on December 16, 2019, and was passed and
adopted by the affirmative vote of at least a majority of all the members of said City
Council.
AYES: Brenden, Carr, Semeta, Peterson, Delgleize, Hardy
NOES: None
ABSENT: Posey
ABSTAIN: None
1,Robin Estanislau,CITY CLERK of the City of Huntington
Beach and ex-officio Clerk of the City Council,do hereby
certify that a synopsis of this ordinance has been published in
the Huntington Beach Wave on December 26,2019.
In accordance with the City Charter of said City. a
Robin Estanislau, City Clerk City Clerk and ex-officio Clerk
Deputy City Clerk of the City Council of the City
of Huntington Beach, California