Politics & Government

2 Residential Parking Issues Postponed

Measures on the Berkeley City Council agenda from Councilman Jesse Arreguin on the 72-hour parking limit for Residential Parking Permit holders and on changing eligibility requirements for permit holders were not taken up Tuesday night.

Berkeley City Councilman Jesse Arreguin said he wants to take more time before asking the City Council to act on two measures regarding Residential Parking Permits.

He had placed both items on the agenda for this past Tuesday night's council meeting, but both were removed from the agenda.

Coping with the 72-hour parking limit

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One measure originally would have exempted holders of Residential Parking Permits from the 72-hour limit on parking without moving your vehicle.

After submitting it, Arreguin revised it asking instead that the city manager and Transportation Commission explore new ways to notify permit holders when their vehicles are in danger of being towed for violating the 72-hour limit. 

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This week before the meeting, he said he would withdraw the item until an unspecified future date so that he could talk with concerned citizens and work on additional changes.

Eligibility requirement for Residential Parking Permit

His second proposal on the council agenda regarding Residential Parking Permits was to revise the permit eligibility rule, which currently requires that the vehicle be registered to the owner's address in the Residential Parking zone.

The current requirement can impose a hardship on students whose cars may be registered to their family's out-of-town home address, said Arreguin, who proposed that alternative means be explored for students who are residents of Residential Parking zones to obtain the permits.

Those without a permit can park only up to two hours in Residential Parking area.

Arreguin said he will bring the second proposal, possibly with changes, back to the council at its next meeting on Oct. 30.

"The reason for the delay on both these items is the need for more research, discussion and possible amendments to balance the need to allow for these changes while protecting neighborhoods," he said in an email. "I have received a number of calls and emails since I introduced these items with good suggestions of approaches the city should look at and I think it’s best to take the time to consider all the issues and work out solutions."

Proposed new rule for parking on border streets between adjacent Residential Parking Permit areas

The council did act Tuesday night on another measure related to Residential Parking zones. It approved an item from Berkeley Public Works Director Andrew Clough, allowing residents of adjacent Residential Parking Permit areas to park on both sides of border streets between neighboring permit areas. The law up to now provided that permit holders in one area can use the permit to park only on their area's side of a bordering street, except in a few special cases.

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