THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 5, 1994 TAG: 9412050047
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Oceanfront residents who flinched this summer at the city's parking plan - for $15 parking decals and temporary visitor passes - may find the latest proposal more to their liking.
A revised plan would lower the residential parking fee to $5 and create a new type of visitor pass that would last for a year. The plan also would combine business and lodging passes into one permit and halve the cost for the first five permits issued.
The plan is the latest in a city effort to regulate on-street, nighttime parking throughout an 80-block area of the resort district where summertime parking is tight.
The revised plan, developed after a series of meetings with civic groups and city officials, would retain the previous version's most important feature: Those without permits would be prohibited from parking on most city streets from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. from April through September.
The plan also presents compromises in three key areas. While calling for lower resident parking fees, it does not eliminate them as a majority of residents wanted. Nor does it eliminate the fees for visitor passes, again as a majority of locals wanted. And it allows employee passes to be issued in the Shadowlawn neighborhood despite some residents' opposition.
The area affected is bounded by Laskin Road on the north, Norfolk Avenue on the south, Atlantic Avenue on the east and Parks Avenue on the west. The City Council is expected to review the proposal at its Dec. 14 meeting.
The original plan, adopted two years ago, set similar restrictions in a 22-block area concentrated along a corridor between 23rd and 25th streets. When the plan was expanded last summer, some critics said the changes were too hasty and gave short shrift to residents' views. The city agreed to hold public hearings, and the result was the revised proposal.
``I think we're going in the right direction,'' said Linwood O. Branch III, who represents the Oceanfront borough.
``There is a recommendation for a small charge for the decals, and my inclination is to eliminate that charge. I don't see why we need to charge $5. This program is not about the little bit of revenue that would be raised.''
Under the draft prepared by Henry Ruiz, director of the city's parking systems management office, the revised $5 decal fee would underwrite the cost of buying decals and temporary passes. An estimated 1,000 decals would be issued.
The fee would not cover the roughly $70,000 a year needed to enforce new parking restrictions. Parking-ticket revenue is expected to cover those costs.
Ruiz's draft calls for creating two kinds of visitor passes: one permanent and one temporary. The permanent pass would be issued to the holder of a residential permit and would cost $2. It would last for one year. The temporary pass would be free but carry a 72-hour time limit. It is unclear whether the temporary pass would be renewable.
Both passes could be picked up between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. seven days a week, April through September, at the parking systems management office near 19th Street and Pacific Avenue or at the city treasurer's office. Residents could also obtain permits by mail with proof of residency.
The plan also calls for merging the current business and lodging passes into one permit. The charge would be $10 for the first five passes and $20 for each additional pass. Replacements would cost $20.
Employers would distribute passes to their employees, and hotels would distribute passes to their guests.
The plan also calls for incorporating all of Winston Salem Avenue into the parking program. Winston Salem is in Shadowlawn, a south beach neighborhood with several popular restaurants and bars whose employees and customers have intensified parking problems there.
W.D. ``Will'' Sessoms Jr., the vice mayor and an at-large representative on the City Council, said the plan represents a good compromise to many competing interests.
``I think they've done a lot of work getting both the residents and the community involved in this,'' Sessoms said. ``I don't think it will satisfy everyone, but I think the proposal will be supported by the vast majority of businesses and residents in the area.
``I feel comfortable with it and will support it as presented. Of course, if there is a better idea, I'm open to it.''
KEYWORDS: RESIDENTIAL PARKING PERMIT VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL by CNB