Fines increase significantly from cost when last enforced
Parking fines in Hollister will increase significantly under a
proposal expected to come before the Hollister City Council in the
next few weeks. Council members also are set to vote soon on a plan
to bring back regular parking enforcement downtown.
Fines increase significantly from cost when last enforced
Parking fines in Hollister will increase significantly under a proposal expected to come before the Hollister City Council in the next few weeks. Council members also are set to vote soon on a plan to bring back regular parking enforcement downtown.
Council members recently directed Police Chief Jeff Miller to prepare a report and resolution that would increase parking fines by $15 per violation and increase the fines for illegally parking in a handicapped space by $50, to $300.
The fine for most parking violations in Hollister is $20, though some fines are $30 or $40 under the current system.
“The intent is to have something for the council to vote on at the next meeting [on April 20] or no later than the first meeting in May,” Hollister City Manager Clint Quilter said. “The council is very interested in making a decision yes or no.”
Miller presented a report that showed that most of Hollister’s parking fines are less than those in other Central Coast cities, from Morgan Hill in the north to Soledad in the south.
“Overall, the difference averaged to $11 less per violation” locally, Miller said. “Although in three instances, the Hollister fine was greater than the average of the other cities’ fines.”
In neighboring San Juan Bautista, most parking fines are significantly higher than those in Hollister. Parking too far from the curb comes with a fine of $35 in San Juan, while the same infraction in Hollister is $20 under the current structure. Parking in a red zone can earn a $40 fine in Hollister, but a $75 fine in San Juan.
Hollister and Gilroy have the lowest fine – $250 – for illegally parking in a handicapped zone of any area city that Miller surveyed. Most other cities, including San Juan, charge $275 or above for that infraction.
Since the timed-parking enforcement was suspended nearly five years ago, people have been parking for hours, if not all day, in spaces designated as two-hour spots. That has prompted some local business people to encourage the city to resume regular parking enforcement so that customers can have more access to parking during regular business hours.
Miller said current plans call for a part-time, non-benefited community service offer to enforce parking restrictions downtown four hours per day.
“We’ll probably adjust those four hours and try to see when is the most efficient and effective time to do the time-zone enforcement,” Miller said. “It may be that we want to do it between 10 and 2 on Mondays and Wednesdays and 11 to 3 on Tuesdays. The first six months is going to be spent collecting data, analyzing it and determining the best way to proceed.”
Police have continued to issue citations for red-zone and handicapped-space violations over the past five years, but they have not had a parking enforcement officer assigned to that task since 2004.
Miller has said that the cost of hiring such an officer would be offset by revenue from the citation process. Councilman Victor Gomez said in a previous interview that the council wants its parking enforcement program to be self-sufficient.
“We don’t want it to be another debt for the city,” he has said.
Miller said he will likely propose that the city purchase a Jeep Wrangler with the steering wheel on the right side of the vehicle, which would allow an officer to mark tires with chalk without leaving the vehicle. The Jeep is expected to cost around $29,000.
Such a vehicle could also be used for other department purposes, such as checking on abandoned cars, Miller said, making it more valuable than a three-wheeled electric parking enforcement vehicle.
If approved as expected by the City Council, hourly parking enforcement would be concentrated in the downtown area, Miller said, though that could change.
“If the [community service officer’s] time is taken up with downtown parking enforcement, then that’s what that person is going to concentrate on,” he said. “If activity is lighter than that, we might have the CSO patrol or check on abandoned vehicles. I don’t think we’d be able to have that CSO out in the neighborhoods beyond downtown. We’ll just see how it goes.”
Miller said he hopes that a community service officer could be hired and on the job by the summer.
