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Home My WebLink About98-03 OrdinanceRECORD OF ORDINANCES Blank, [nc. Ordinance No. 98-03 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 76.02(E) OF THE DUBLIN CODIFIED ORDINANCES REGARDING THE POSTING OF HANDICAPPED PARKING FINE AMOUNT, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Passed 20 WHEREAS, Dublin Code Section 76.02(F) provides that no person shall stop, stand, or park any motor vehicle at handicapped parking spaces, disability parking spaces, or at special clearly marked parking locations ("handicapped parking spaces") unless the driver or passenger is a handicapped or disabled person and is displaying a parking card or special handicapped license plates; and WHEREAS, on July 7, 2003, the City Council passed Ordinance No. 73-03, which raised the fine for parking in handicapped parking spaces to not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500) in order to be consistent with state law minimum fine; and WHEREAS, the Dublin Code currently requires all new and replacement handicapped parking signs posted after July 5, 2000 to include the amount of the applicable fine; and WHEREAS, Council finds that it would be in best interest of City for all handicapped parking signs in the City to contain the applicable fine amount. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the City of Dublin, State of Ohio, 2 of the elected members concurring that: Section 1. Dublin Codified Ordinances Section 76.02(E) is hereby amended to read as follows: § 76.02 MANNER OF PARALLEL PARKING; HANDICAPPED PARKING. (E) Special parking locations and privileges for persons with disabilities that limit or impair the ability to walk, also known as handicapped parking spaces or disability parking spaces, shall be provided and designated by all political subdivisions and by the state and all agencies and instrumentalities thereof at all offices and facilities where parking is provided, whether owned, rented, or leased, and at all publicly owned parking garages. The locations shall be designated through the posting of an elevated sign, whether permanently affixed or movable, imprinted with the international symbol of access and shall be reasonably close to exits, entrances, elevators, and ramps. c ~nnn +r.o.-o ~~~., All si ms posted~ursuant to this section and regardless of when sigmas were op sted, shall be have affixed upon the surface of that sign or affixed next to the designating sign a notice that states the fine applicable for the offense of parking a motor vehicle in the special designated parking location if the motor vehicle is not legally entitled to be parked in that location. All elevated signs posted in accordance with this division and R.C. § 3781.111(B) shall be mounted on a fixed or movable post, and the distance from the ground to the top edge of the sign shall measure five feet. Section 2. This ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety and welfare. The reason for such necessity is that motorists should to be put on notice of applicable handicapped parking fine amount regardless of when the handicapped parking sign was erected. Therefore, this ordinance shall go into immediate effect. Passed this f , 2003. Attest: Presiding Officer Clerk of Council I hereby certify that copies of this Ordinance/Resolution were posted in the City of Dublin in accordance with Section 731.25 of the Ohio Revised Code. rk of Council, Dublin, Ohio Office of the City Manager 5200 Emerald Parkway • Dublin, OH 43017 Phone: 614-410-4400 • Fax: 614-410-4490 CITY OF DUBLIN Memo To: Members of the Dublin City Council From: Jane S. Brautigam, City Manage~C~~~~ S _ ,(v ,~~- Date: August 18, 2003 Re: Handicapped Parking Ordinance Ordinance 98-03 Summary: At the Council meeting of July 7, 2003, the Council adopted Ordinance No. 73-03, which raised the fine for parking in a handicapped parking space to not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500). The ordinance requires the owners of premises on which handicapped signs are located to post a notice on the signs advising persons of the minimum fine for violation of the parking restrictions, however this posting requirement applies only to new and replacement handicapped parking signs posted after July 5, 2000. The Council asked staff to make sure that property owners would be notified of their new obligations to post minimum fine signs before issuing tickets to them for failure to do so. Staff met to outline a strategy for communicating to property owners and for determining convenient ways to assist them in compliance with these new requirements. In these discussions it soon became abundantly clear that the law requiring posting for only some signs (those newly installed or replaced after July 5, 2000) would be very difficult to enforce, would leave property owners with uncertainties about whether to post or not, and would provide defendants with an affirmative defense that the City would have extreme difficulty in countering. Rather than create more confusion by attempting to communicate these responsibilities to property owners, staff decided that the most efficient way to resolve the problem would be to propose an amendment to the Code requiring all handicapped parking signs to contain the minimum fine language. Legal staff confirmed that the City has the legal authority to impose such a requirement. Staff next addressed the practical issues to be encountered in this process. The City sign shop has designed an appropriate minimum fine sign that can be affixed to all of the City's handicapped parking spaces. We calculated the cost of each sign at $27.12. Since the state law allows municipalities to use the fines collected from handicapped parking tickets to subsidize the cost of enforcement, including the printing of signs, we believe that over time, the City will recover the costs associated with the printing of the signs. Based upon past experience, we know that when private property owners try to obtain signs from private vendors, they will probably have to pay much more than the City's actual cost to print the sign. As a result, we are proposing that the City allow private property owners to purchase these signs from the Page 2 of 2 August 13, 2003 City. We would conduct a cost study to establish the cost of printing signs for private property owners so that we would fully recover our costs to do so. Since the object of the new fine for handicapped parking violations is to achieve compliance, the staff is proposing a communication effort designed to reach all affected property owners. These communications would advise them of their responsibilities and let them know that the signs they need are readily available at the City of Dublin at the City's true cost. A grace period of several months (probably until December 1, 2003) would be permitted before property owners would be charged with failure to post signs, and it would be our policy not to prosecute if they did post the sign prior to a court appearance. However, I propose that we strictly enforce the posting requirement after the grace period so that we achieve 100% compliance as soon as possible. Finally, City staff will begin to post the minimum fine signs in all locations at which the City has handicapped parking signs. Because of the number of spaces we have dispersed throughout the city, this may take several weeks. Recommendation: Approval of Ordinance and Declaring an Emergency SCHOTTENSTEIN ZOX sc DUNN a legal pro(essionol association MEMORANDUM TO: Dublin City Council Jane Brautigam, City Manager Anne Clarke, Clerk of Council FROM: Stephen J. Smith, Law Director Stephen J. Smith, Jr. J. Corey Colombo DATE: August 18, 2003 RE: Ordinance 98-03 regarding Posting of Handicapped Parking Fine On July 7, 2003, the City Council passed Ordinance No. 73-03, which raised the fine for parking in a handicapped parking space to not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500). The Dublin Code is now consistent with the state law minimum in the Ohio Revised Code. As the Dublin Code now exists, all new and replacement handicapped parking signs posted after July 5, 2000 must include the applicable fine amount. After further consideration, several Staff members and the Law Department are of the opinion that all handicapped parking signs must include the fine amount. Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to enforce and monitor signage compliance since it would be impossible to determine which signs were "grandfathered" and which were new or replacement signs. With the passage of Ordinance 98-03, all handicapped parking signs must contain the applicable fine amount. If the signs do not contain a notice of the fine amount, the landowner will be given a warning on the first offense. For each subsequent offense, the landowner can be fined twenty-five dollars, pursuant to Dublin Code §76.02(0), for each handicapped parking space that is not properly marked. As always, please contact this office if you have any questions or wish to further discuss this matter. www.SZD.com Columbus Cleveland Cincinnati {H03500762 }