Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Legal Services Department

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Vicki Stanwix, Municipal Court Administrator Toni R. Wheeler, Director, Legal Department
DATE:	March 29, 2010
RE:	Habitual Parking Violator History and Statistics.

There have been recent inquiries concerning the habitual parking violator offense adopted in Ordinance No. 8413 and codified in Section 17-417 of the Code of the City of Lawrence, Kansas.  This memorandum provides a brief overview of the history of the ordinances on this subject as well as some current enforcement statistics.           

In 1996, City Ordinance 6813 established a habitual parking violator offense for individuals who repeatedly committed overtime parking violations. Under that ordinance, individuals who accumulated five or more overtime parking violations were subject to a fine of $50.00.  Because of the way Ordinance 6813 was written, there were some concerns that the ordinance violated the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy.  For this reason, the ordinance was not enforced for several years.

In the spring and summer of 2009, City staff discussed the downtown parking enforcement program with representatives of downtown Lawrence.  One staff recommendation that surfaced from the review of the downtown parking enforcement program was the reestablishment of the habitual overtime parking violation to provide an additional enforcement tool against repeat violators of the parking laws.  Staff drafted Ordinance 8413 for the Commission’s consideration in July 2009.  Under the ordinance, individuals who accumulate five or more violations of overtime parking laws within a 30-day period are designated as habitual parking violators.  If they are cited for additional parking violations within the 30-day period, the new violation has an enhanced fine of $50.  This ordinance was passed on July 21, 2009 with an effective date of August 1, 2009.

Parking Control staff began issuing habitual parking violator citations on March 10, 2010.  To date, 122 habitual parking violator citations have been issued.  Twenty-nine (29) citations have been paid; one citation was dismissed by the prosecutor, and 92 citations are still pending or past due as of March 29, 2010.  The total revenue collected from habitual parking violator citations to date is $1305.00.