City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: JANUARY 4, 2017
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of the Creation of a Restricted Overnight Parking District on certain blocks in Lincolnia Hills-Heywood Glen.
BODY
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ISSUE: Consideration of the creation of a restricted overnight parking district on certain blocks in Lincolnia Hills-Heywood Glen.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council approve a restricted overnight parking district in Lincolnia Hills-Heywood Glen on the blocks discussed below, which would be in effect from midnight to 6:00 AM, seven days a week.
BACKGROUND: In 2005, the City Council approved an ordinance to establish Section 5-8-82 of the City Code, which allows for the creation of restricted overnight parking districts. Pursuant to this section, parking on streets within these districts is restricted between the hours of midnight and 6:00 AM except for vehicles with a city decal. Since then, two neighborhoods have requested and been approved for these restrictions on their streets (Attachment 1).
The residents of the Lincolnia Hills-Heywood Glen Civic Association have submitted a petition (Attachment 2) requesting the creation of a restricted overnight parking district in their neighborhood on the streets and blocks listed below and depicted on Attachment 3:
1. Anderson Street (1000 and 1100 blocks)
2. Banks Place (900 block)
3. Lomack Court (5900 and 6000 blocks)
4. Lowell Avenue (5800, 5900, and 6000 blocks)
5. Nagy Place (6000 block)
6. N. Ashton Street (800 & 900 blocks)
7. N. Morgan Street (6000, 6100, and 6200 blocks)
The residents noted that over the past few years they have seen an increase of non-resident vehicles parked overnight on these streets, which often creates unsafe driving conditions by obstructing sight lines at driveways and intersections. In some cases, residents have noted issues with buses not being able to safely drive down the street. Most of the blocks have enacted the District 12 daytime parking restrictions (No parking 8AM-5PM Monday-Friday, except for vehicles with a City decal), so there is a noticeable increase in vehicles on the street past 5PM.
The Traffic and Parking Board held a public hearing to review this request at their meeting on November 14, 2016. There were two public speakers who spoke in support of creating an overnight parking district. The Board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the request to create the proposed district.
DISCUSSION: Pursuant to Section 5-8-82 of the City Code, a request to create a restricted overnight parking district should be made by a petition signed by at least two thirds of the residents within the proposed district. The residents have submitted a petition that meets these requirements. The Code also requires that the proposed district include at least 200 spaces. The number of spaces on these streets does exceed 200 spaces. Finally, the Code requires that a survey be conducted during the restricted parking hours (midnight to 6:00 AM) to determine if more than 25% of the parked cars are owned by non-residents. A survey was conducted on October 26, 2016 and found that 44% of the parked vehicles did not display a City of Alexandria decal and were non-residents.
In addition to the support from the residents within the proposed district, many residents outside the proposed district are also supportive of creating an overnight parking district. A petition of support (Attachment 4) signed by over 60 residents who live in Lincolnia Hills or surrounding neighborhoods was included in the original request to offer support for overnight restrictions in this area. These residents indicated that parking congestion along N. Morgan Street makes driving conditions challenging and are in favor of restrictions to address this problem.
FISCAL IMPACT: If the district is approved, staff will post the affected blocks with new signage indicating the restricted parking hours. With the exception of Lowell Avenue, all of these blocks already have daytime parking restrictions posted, so the signs could be modified to include the additional restrictions. New signs would be posted on Lowell Avenue with the overnight restrictions. Staff estimates the cost to fabricate/modify and install signage for all of the streets will be approximately $3,000. The additional parking enforcement officers (PEO) required to enforce these restrictions can be handled by the existing number of authorized parking enforcement positions once the existing vacancies are filled.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Map of existing and proposed restricted overnight parking districts
Attachment 2: Letter and Petition from residents of Lincolnia Hills-Heywood Glen Civic Association
Attachment 3: Map of the proposed area for the restricted overnight parking district
Attachment 4: Petition of support from surrounding community
STAFF:
Emily A. Baker, Deputy City Manager
David Huchler, Acting Police Chief, Alexandria Police Department
Yon Lambert, Director, T&ES
Carrie Sanders, Deputy Director, Transportation, T&ES
Steve Sindiong, Acting Division Chief, Transportation Planning, T&ES
Katye North, Principal Planner, Transportation Planning, T&ES
Don Hayes, Alexandria Police Department