THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408120258
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
AN EXPANDED PARKING permit experiment adopted by the City Council last week covers roughly an 80-block resort residential area, extending from Laskin Road on the north to Norfolk Avenue on the south.
It goes into effect Aug. 31 and encompasses neighborhoods already participating in a permit parking program, said Ralph Smith, city public works director.
Basically, the plan bans on-street parking by non-residents of those neighborhoods from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily, on a year-round basis.
It requires residents to obtain special decals to park on the street and requires them to get guest passes for night visitors as well.
The good news is new enrollees will get their decals free until Jan. 1, as well as one free guest pass.
After the first of the year, city officials and neighborhood representatives will negotiate a new rate structure.
``My sense of what the council wants is a fee structure that's somewhat lower than it is now,'' said Smith.
Residential parking restrictions have worked well in a permit program adopted two years ago in a 22-block area concentrated mostly along a corridor between 23rd and 25th streets. Fifty-one percent of the residents within the area signed petitions agreeing to buy $15 decals that would entitle them to nighttime parking on the streets outside their homes. Non-residents were prohibited from parking between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. year-round.
Provisions in the program allowed residents to obtain guest passes for varying lengths of time:
Three days for $2,
Seven days for $5,
14 days for $10,
12 months for $25.
With the exception of the one free pass, the old guest permit rates remain in effect until the first of the year under the new program, said Smith.
The permits can be purchased from the city treasurer's office during business hours or at the city operations center next to the Dome, which is open until midnight seven days a week. That would allow residents' guests who arrive unexpectedly to purchase the temporary nighttime parking permit on the spot.
Resort businesses are allowed to buy yearly parking permits for employees for $20 each. The permits, however, are transferable and can be shared among employees rather than assigned to specific vehicles.
The same $20 fee applies to owners of rental units within the restricted area. The transferable permits allow tenants who lack off-street parking to park on the street at night.
FUTURE PLANS CALL FOR adding two private security guards to a two-man nightly patrol now on duty, Smith said. The guards would patrol residential streets ticketing cars that don't bear appropriate decals.
Towing would be limited to vehicles that block driveways or obstruct traffic, said Smith. Hired security personnel have no authority to have cars towed. That can be done only under police supervision, he added.
While agreeing to expand the residential parking restrictions, the council also voted Tuesday to give all city residents a break at three Oceanfront municipal parking lots.
All three are on Pacific Avenue. One is at 25th Street. The other two bracket 19th Street, adjacent to the Dome site. Together they provide more than 600 parking spaces for Oceanfront visitors.
Existing rates remain the same from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Patrons are required to pay $4 a day on weekdays and $5 on weekends. Beginning immediately, cars bearing city stickers will be charged only $1 to park after 5 p.m. on weekdays and weekends. Non-residents must pay the full fee even after 5 p.m. The lots are open from 8 a.m. to midnight.
The idea, said Councilman Linwood Branch, who spearheaded the permit plan and the reduced parking lot rates, is to get non-resident motorists out of the resort neighborhoods and into under-used municipal lots.
A long-range goal envisioned by city officials is to end parking altogether in the resort strip, and to channel motorists into three major satellite lots, which have yet to be built.
Parking patrons then would be offered trolley transportation, for the price of their parking fees, to any point on the strip or to attractions bordering the Oceanfront. MEMO: WHAT RESIDENTS THINK/ Page 19
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DAVID HOLLINGSWORTH
On the Cover: ``We should have had this parking program 10 years
ago,'' says Barbara Yates. ``. . . Residents should be protected
from the masses.''
Staff photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
On the Cover: ``Why should you have to pay to park in front of your
own house?'' says Edith Seamans with son Everett. ``I don't want the
new decals.''
``I'm concerned with the issue of safety and how to get rid of the
bad element . . . ,'' said Barclay Cottage owner Peter Cantanese,
who favors the change.
Staff map
PARKING CHANGES
For Oceanfront residents
For Oceanfront visitors
For copy of map, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL PARKING
by CNB