First, I want to thank everyone for coming out on a snowy uh Tuesday afternoon.

Um it's the snow day for some.

Wish it was a snow day for us, but I appreciate everyone being here.

Uh because this is a code change hearing, our hope is to be efficient uh to get everyone out of here before the temperatures drop anymore, although our snow warriors are out there making sure you get home safe.

But I want to be part of that solution.

So today we will be discussing proposed changes to code City Code Chapter 2150.

This chapter governs parking infractions and establishes procedures, penalties, and enforcement of parking violations.

The proposed changes to the code will clarify definitions, clear up inconsistency, modernizing the code, and among the changes will emphasize safety and mobility focused violations, allow more time for parking before penalties are assessed, and introduced tiered and early payment to incentivize expedient payment.

The Department of Public Service has also proposed adding new safety violations to enhance safety of our residents and dedicated bike lanes, and in anticipation of bus rapid transit as part of the Link Us initiative.

So before I hand it over, I also want to acknowledge my colleague, uh Councilmember Beatty.

Councilmember Beatty, do you have any thoughts you want to share?

Great.

Um we will begin the hearing tonight with a presentation from our Department of Public Service, followed by public testimony and then concluding remarks.

So uh we'll start with a presentation from two members of the Department of Public Service from the Division of Planning and Operations Administrator Amanda Ford and Mobility and Parking Services Division Administrator Justin Goodwin.

Before we start, I don't want to bury the lead.

I we talked about this a little bit, but if you all could very very quickly a quick synopsis of why, why now, and why this is important, and then dive in.

Absolutely.

Uh good afternoon, and and thank you, Chair Barossa de Padilla and Councilmember Beatty.

Again, I'm Justin Goodwin, administrator for mobility and parking services, joined by Amanda Ford, our parking operations coordinator.

Um so why are we here now?

Um I'll touch on this in a couple of slides, but um, we've undertaken a strategic planning effort in our division over the past couple of years to modernize our operations.

We've been doing a lot of modernization of our operations over the past few years.

Um we have a new strategic parking plan that I'll give a little bit of an overview on, and this is one of the recommended implementation items out of the plan.

Um we have an updated parking citation finds themselves for over a decade.

Um that's quite a while.

Um, but also uh this section of code is a little bit cumbersome to administer.

Um it's a little cumbersome for folks, the the average person to read if you want to understand what is the process if you get a parking ticket.

And we want to make sure that we're administering processes fair and consistently and predictably for everybody.

So a combination of policy recommendations and um no time like the present to improve our processes.

Well, 10 years ago, we also didn't have a parking app, so the world has changed a lot in 10 years.

So all right.

Uh I'll go to some slides here.

Uh so we thought it might be helpful to start with a little bit of an overview of who we are and how we manage the system before we get into the actual code recommendations.

So uh these are the things that we're gonna cover here.

I'll do a little bit of parking one-on-one.

Um, and then we'll talk about what actually are we proposing to amend in the code.

So uh as you noted, Chair, um, we are the division of mobility and parking services.

We're one of the four transportation focused divisions in the Department of Public Service.

Uh, you can see some key figures there about our system that we manage.

Uh we, of course, uh operate and enforce on-street parking throughout the city uh as well as the city's public parking garages.

Uh we also include our our team includes the transportation multimodal planning team.

Um we manage all parking and curbside management programs uh as well as the shared micromobility system in the city.

So there's a lot that we cover uh in our division.

And with our new strategic parking plan, we updated our division's mission.

We we really are committed to providing safe, equitable, and predictable mobility and parking options for for everyone who needs to get around the city uh with an emphasis on mobility choice on safety and facilitating access as our city continues to grow.

I mentioned our strategic parking plan.

Our first strategic plan was adopted in 2019.

We've updated this earlier this year.

And this lays out some guiding principles for a wide variety of policies and program recommendations.

One of which is to update and modernize this section of code.

I heard you talking earlier about what cities have we we looked at.

There are a few benchmark cities on this slide here that we looked at for a wide variety of best practices.

A couple of them, like Cincinnati and Austin, specifically around how they manage their citation ticketing process and things like early payment and the what's the right amount of time to give somebody to respond to a ticket, which we'll touch on a little bit more here.

I think all of them are pretty familiar in the news over the past few years here, whether it's Link Us, our new bike plus plan adopted just a year ago, uh, the zoning initiative, the climate action plan, uh Vision Zero, not on the slide, but all of these are supported by our strategic parking plan.

Uh and um of these uh plans really are specifically supported by some of the code changes that we're recommending tonight, specifically around safety and mobility.

So a little parking 101.

Uh first, uh, one of those principles on the strategic parking plan side noted uh a sustainable revenue stream.

I think it's important to uh share how we're structured from a budget standpoint within the department and within the city.

Uh since 2022, the the parking operations have been set up into an enterprise fund called the Mobility Enterprise Fund.

So it's a self-sustaining fund that's separate from the city's general fund.

So a lot of times folks have questions well, where's the money go when I pay for parking on the street or when I get a parking ticket?

Um it used to be that those funds went into the general fund.

Um for the past few years now, they go into a separate fund that's uh structured specifically to sustain and reinvest in the parking and the mobility system for the city.

So all the operating uh expenses associated with managing the parking system, those are paid directly through uh paid parking hourly rates, uh, whether it's on the street or in garages or from parking citations.

So you see some of the operating expenses there, whether it's our actual staff uh costs, um, equipment, vehicles, technology, back end, computer systems, um, and garage construction and debt service, uh, as well as our our shared mobility program, all of those are funded directly through the revenues generated in this fund.

So, why do we manage and enforced parking?

Um, touching on some of this with our our mission statement and some of those guiding principles.

Um really when it comes down to it, we're managing a limited supply of valuable resources on the street.

Everybody wants to get to where they're getting they're going.

Um, there's limited curb space.

You want to get as close to where you're going as possible, and that means a lot in the high demand areas of the city, the core of the city, uh, we have a lot of people trying to compete for the same space.

So uh we use things like paid parking and timed parking, permit parking to manage that limited resource.

Uh, we want to encourage the right amount of turnovers so that folks can know predictably, you can generally find a space somewhere where you're going and make sure that, say, folks in uh residential neighborhoods that are high demand have access to park reasonably close to their house as well.

Uh as well as promoting safety, a number of violations, parking citations that are in the code, have to do with uh safe management of our streets, so that we don't have things like uh cars blocking crosswalks and parked on sidewalks uh or in other unsafe manners.

So those are some of the the many infractions that uh we could issue on a daily basis.

And where do we manage parking?

Um we can issue our team can issue a parking citation anywhere in the city of Columbus.

Um we do, I think it was on the other slide.

We have uh 22 parking enforcement officers that operate on three shifts six days a week.

Um, but they're not out patrolling all 226 or so square miles of the city.

Uh as I mentioned, we're primarily focused on those highest demand areas of the city, so downtown, the short north, um, the university district, East Franklin, where we're seeing the the most and fastest and densest growth and the the most need to manage that limited curb space.

Um so that's where we primarily focus our operations on a day-to-day basis.

Um parking tickets can be issued by Columbus Police as well.

So if you happen to get a ticket somewhere further out in some of the other neighborhoods that that may be from police who, if they come across something, uh will issue a ticket if they feel they need to do so.

And we generate and use a lot of data to inform how we manage the system.

This slide shows an example of a parking study in the a portion of the Harrison West neighborhood that we conducted earlier this year.

We collect data through field observations through parking transaction information through enforcement activity itself to understand what's happening out on the street in different neighborhoods, block to block to inform how we set policy, um, calibrate parking regulations out on the street to achieve those goals that I talked about earlier.

And with that background, that gets us to uh what we're proposing with chapter 2150 primarily, as well as some aligned sections of 2151 and 2155.

And Amanda will go through that.

Great, thank you.

Um, chapter 2150 parking violations really governs parking infractions themselves.

So it covers everything from the how we enforce the parking, how we write the ticket, um, the timelines for response, the notification process, and all of that.

As Justin said, the recommendation came out of the strategic parking plan for us to actually review this code.

So in my 10 plus years of parking, we've made a couple minor changes to this, but not really a comprehensive review.

Um, this is a code section that comes straight out of the Ohio revised code.

It's complicated, it's wordy, it's lengthy, it's really hard for us to all interpret it the same, let alone the general public.

So providing some clarification of this code is really important as we move forward and um really focus on how we manage parking in the city.

Um and one of the key things we want to do out of this as well is really simplify our appeals process and establish some rules and regulations to go along with this code section.

Um the parking ticket fines themselves.

Obviously, that is one thing that we would like to move to rules and regulations, and what that does is give us the ability just to manage those infractions a little bit better.

Um, we're changing how we um price the infractions as well.

We're going to more of a tiered approach so that the cost of the infraction really mirrors the the impact of the violation itself.

Um but most importantly, we're giving folks more time to respond to their parking ticket.

Right now, you get 10 days before a penalty is added.

We're moving that to 30 days.

So we're really trying to be a little more customer-oriented with providing an incentive to provide an early pay option.

So you get a discount on your parking ticket if you pay in the first seven days, but also more time before that initial fine is added to your ticket.

Um, and obviously you'll see up there our top five in parking infractions are meter non-payment, failure to register or display, which we're gonna talk a little bit more about lately, permit parking and no stopping, no parking.

Those have consistently been our top violations year after year.

And I have a quick question.

So the tiered parking of within cert within seven days you pay one amount.

Yep.

Uh eight to twenty-nine days.

Yep, you pay a second amount slightly higher, and then essentially after 30 days, it's late, and then it bumps up even more.

Is that something that we saw as a best practice in other cities that we saw that was effective in in terms of getting more payments in, or yep, that's what um there are several other cities that have the that approach as well.

Um, they do find that folks do take advantage of that early payment.

Just nobody wants to pay a parking ticket.

We all understand that.

So if yes, I mess up and I get it, if I at least have that option to get a little bit of a discount, folks are more incentivized to pay the ticket.

Got it.

It's it's like Black Friday deals.

Yes, absolutely.

We all have a good deal.

In those first seven days, it's slightly cheaper.

Okay, great.

Um, so now what we're gonna do is kind of walk through the current parking ticket process, and then we'll walk through what the new process would look like.

So obviously, first we issue the parking ticket when we see the violation.

You have 10 days to respond by either payment of your parking ticket, admission of the parking ticket saying, Well, I yes, I'm guilty, but maybe I enter the wrong mobile pay zone number, enter the wrong license plate number, or I deny the parking ticket altogether.

Wasn't me, and I request a hearing.

So it gets a little complicated for folks that you have three different options.

Um, and also there's no response at all.

We get a lot of those as well.

So if you pay your parking ticket, no further action required, you just pay, move along, um, nothing else is required.

Um if you admit to the parking infraction, but there's a circumstance, or you deny it, there's two different levels of review.

There's a level one review that is done internally by our staff.

If you don't like the result of that, and they're really just looking.

Did we issue the parking violation or the parking infraction correctly?

So did we issue it in error, did we legally issue it?

That's kind of what they're looking for.

Um, if you don't like the result of that, then you can request a hearing.

But it's a lot more onerous on the person in violation because if I don't like one, then I have to go back in and request a hearing.

So it gets a little complicated for folks, and it's a lot of work.

So obviously, once a judgment's been filed, you have 15 days to apply to Muni Court to appeal it to Muni court for a hearing with Muni.

If you don't respond at all in that first 10 days, you have a $15 penalty that's initially tacked onto your ticket, and then we issue you a violation notification.

So we send you a letter in the mail stating that hey, you have a parking infraction, and then you have 30 days to respond to that notice that comes through the mail.

That kind of goes back to you either pay or respond by appealing to the ticket.

And then if you don't respond within 30 days of the notification, then it's another 20 penalty and a default judgment.

Once we issue the default judgment, you can appeal that to Muni court.

So it's kind of a cumbersome process.

People get real confused over the different hearing requirements.

So we're trying to simplify that.

So the new process will issue the parking ticket, you'll now have 30 days to respond, and you'll either obviously pay your parking ticket or can test it and request a hearing.

So it's really just you have two options.

You either pay, no further action required, or you can test the parking ticket and it goes to hearing.

We will still administratively review those quickly behind the scenes, but at the end of the day, everybody will request a hearing.

If we see that the violation was issued correctly, we'll just send it to hearing, and that's done by a third-party hearing officer.

That's a school party.

And I I was actually shocked at this, how many folks actually ask for a hearing?

I think you might have had a data point on one of the other slides, but it's like a hundred thousand some folks actually, right?

That's what I think we um we we estimate probably 16,000 a year.

A little less.

Okay, but yeah, but that's a portion.

Yeah, yeah, that's pretty significant amount of folks that actually go through the process.

No, absolutely.

We keep our hearing officers very busy.

So you'll still have the same 15 days to respond to appeal to Muni Court if you don't like the judgment that's issued by the hearing officer.

If you don't respond after those 30 days, um, the late payment then goes into effect, and we issue you that notification by mail stating that you have that parking infraction and you have another 30 days to respond.

And then if you don't respond within 30 days, we issue the default judgment and it goes back to you have 15 days to appeal to Muni court.

So just trying to simplify that process, not tack on as many fees throughout the process, give folks those options for early payment, standard payment, and late payment.

And for the other question, and this may be a slide, but if you don't, how long do you have after the no response to pay the ticket before?

Does it then go to collections?

Yes.

Yep.

Once um we typically don't send you to collections immediately.

That's something that comes a little later in the process.

We do try to give folks time to actually respond appropriately.

Um, the way that the way the code works is after three parking citations, you then become eligible for towing.

And so we typically wait until folks have quite a bit of tickets wrapped up.

I like that you said you become eligible for towing.

Yes.

Um, but my my other question also, and and I think I might have um uh I'm not sure that we mentioned this, but also if you get a hundred dollars of parking tickets, then you can go into a payment plan, correct?

Yep, we do offer a payment, a ticket payment plan for individuals who owe us more than 100 in parking tickets.

So you just make a payment each month and you have up to 12 months to pay off your parking infractions.

Got it.

So if you do reach that three ticket, um, you become eligible.

You get the privilege of getting your car potentially towed.

What does that time frame look like in terms of paying it so that that way you can prevent towing?

Um, once we typically you have the you have 60 days to pay that infraction, then you have the 15 days to appeal to Muni court, and so you're not eligible for tow.

You've got probably about 75, 85 days for each ticket before you would be eligible for that tow.

Okay.

Yep.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Um, the new fine structure.

So we really tried to look at all parking infractions and separate them into different categories.

There's safety and mobility violations.

So those are our most egregious in all parking infractions, really geared towards safety.

The fine amounts for those tend to be higher.

And so those most egregious violations parking on a bike lane, parking in a trans a bus lane, um, blocking a crosswalk, those are going to be your most egregious infractions and the most costly.

Um, there are other safety infractions that are not as impactful, still impactful, but not um have an immediate threat on pedestrians, other drivers and vehicles.

But it's really about how do we associate the fine amount calibrated with the actual finance or with the violation itself.

Those are things we use to actually manage parking.

So that's your meter non-payment, that's um car share spaces, that's timed parking, different things like that.

So those are permit parking is another big one.

So these are things voting zones.

Would that be under that as well?

Yep.

Yeah.

So these are really violations that help us manage parking and create that turnover.

We need for not only residents to have access, but businesses to have access as well.

And then there's general parking violations that aren't nearly as impactful.

These are things that yes, there are parking infractions, but they don't have any relation to parking management or to safety infractions.

So those infractions don't cost nearly as much as what the other ones do.

So it was really kind of looking at each individual each infraction individually, and then determining the overall impact and the safety for each one and looking at the cost associated with that.

And just uh there's also another quick point of clarification.

There's a standard, for example, I know that we have different parking strategies for the different areas that you're talking about, right?

So in the university area, it's a little different, right?

You have folks who are coming for a football game or other things downtown when you know, again, I I was talking about folks going to the courthouse in the short north.

You have lots of businesses you want to turn over parking, et cetera.

Is the parking infraction if you don't pay for parking, is it the same amount or is it different in different zones?

It it's the same regardless of location.

So we have seen some cities do more time-based or geographic-based infractions, but that can get a little cumbersome to administer as well.

So we've taken this approach of more category-based, um, but would apply consistently across any location.

Um, but importantly, you mentioned the university district.

That's a good example of how we also want to calibrate the amount of the citation to uh how much it actually costs to pay for parking.

So uh it can cost if somebody's parking all day in the university district, it can cost up to $28 to pay hourly.

Um that's a progressive rate through the day.

Um, right now that non-payment meter non-payment ticket is $30.

So we find some people that maybe take that calculated risk and rather than paying for the hourly payments, see if they get a ticket.

And so, you know, we want to make sure that we're not disincentivizing from actually following the rules by not calibrating the rates appropriately.

And I think I know in in our previous discussions, we also talked about why we might not use tools like a boot, right?

That would then keep you in that space longer, or I know that there's these new like something that covers your windshield, like there's these other strategies.

Can you just talk a little bit about why we've decided to be able to do that?

This section of code actually does specifically um uh provide procedures for impoundment or immobilization.

So it does acknowledge the potential to boot.

The city hasn't done that.

Um it's something we talk about from time to time.

I think if we were going to explore that, it would be in fairly limited circumstances.

Obviously, one of our goals is to encourage turnover.

Um, so it's not necessarily um achieving that goal if we're actually immobilizing a vehicle in one of those high demand areas.

Also considering safety for our officers, um, if that's on a higher volume, higher speed street, uh and you've got to get out of your car already.

You know, there are safety issues with uh being a parking enforcement officer, that it's a tough job.

Um, but then having to kneel down in the middle of traffic and administer a boot.

So it's not that we would never explore that, but um, you know, it's not necessarily the right solution for every circumstance.

Well, and I appreciate that because I think um, you know, in other cities where they little where they're a little bit more egregious with it, I think it also just causes more issues.

And we talked about this about you know, uh why we send folks to collections instead of versus towing and why we make certain moves again.

I think um meeting folks where they are and trying to make this accessible to folks and giving them options, I think is also a move to ensuring that we're meeting both the goals of like this prime real estate of getting people in and out of the places where they want to visit and want to go, but also ensuring that um that we're not making this so punitive that then it makes it really hard for folks to even want to participate in all of the great things in our city, right?

Absolutely.

Uh it's it's a balancing act.

Um so we we do want to calibrate the rates uh in a way that you know encourages uh you know fair fair use of the system by everybody with without having unintended consequences on folks.

And I'll I'll actually touch on some of that in a couple of slides.

Uh before leaving this one, I know the fine print's a little tough to read here, but um one thing I want to highlight is while a number of the citation rates are increasing.

Um, we've we've tried to introduce that discounted early payment as a means to to minimize that first level of increase over current rates today.

You can see the the average fine amounts in that first column.

Um right now across the 50 some different types of infractions in the code.

Um you'll have anything from a 22 citation to a 47 dollar citation to a 63 dollar citation without a lot of rhyme or reason as to why exactly it is that number.

Um those were just percentage increases over 10 years ago.

Um so now we're trying to make it a little bit more understandable which category are you in.

They're nice round numbers, so they they escalate in round numbers.

Um importantly, some of the violations, the amount is actually gonna go down, especially with that discounted uh rate.

So some are going up.

Uh the Ohio Revised Code actually caps all citations at 100 for all municipalities.

So that's the highest number that you see there, with the exception of parking in a handicapped space.

Uh the Ohio revised code allows that to be $500, and that's what it is here in Columbus, and we're we're not proposing to change that.

Um so those most egregious safety and mobility violations with a late payment would go up to $100, um, but generally be $50 to $70.

Uh I'm sorry, $50 to $80 initially.

Uh those parking management violations uh with an early payment um $50, they range from $30 to $50 today.

Um, and then a number of other citations with an early payment would be $30.

Um, so generally in line with with where they're at today, a slight increase.

Um number of the safety violations are are actually staying in that initial $50 range with an early payment.

So while we are proposing to increase some of the rates, we're trying to do that in a in a thoughtful and calibrated way.

Uh we've touched on this already a little bit, but a little bit more about some of the newer adjusted uh citations uh that we're proposing with the code, um, some mobility related violations, one specifically around uh bark bike lanes uh and uh how those can be used, um, whether or not they can be used by other types of vehicles.

Um so we currently do have a parking and a bike lane infraction in the code, but there is specifically language that expressly allows for loading and delivery activities to happen in a bike lane.

Uh this actually was addressed as a recommendation in our bike plus plan.

Um, this has been a long-standing concern for for folks who uh do bike throughout the city.

And as we're investing in more bike infrastructure, uh example East Broad Street uh there.

Um and you can see folks having to uh bike into the travel lane outside of that bike lane because there's loading activity happening in the bike lane, and that that technically is permitted by code today.

So we are proposing to remove that sort of exemption loophole uh from that infraction.

Uh also uh Amanda touched on this as well.

Um we are proposing to introduce a new infraction for uh parking or stopping or standing uh vehicle standing in a bus lane.

Uh so this is in anticipation of the Link SBRT projects coming online over the next few years.

So this is one that we won't see you know actually being issued that that often in the near term.

We do have peak hour um bus lanes on high street and downtown, but they're a little different from what we'll see with the BRT.

Um this is a photo from a bus windshield in Philadelphia, and this is a common issue that cities are dealing with all over the country as they're investing in transit dedicated transit lanes and infrastructure.

Um, so we want to make sure that we're prepared for that.

Um similar to the bike lane, uh, as we reviewed the code, we actually found some language that allowed for passenger loading uh pick up and drop off passenger vehicle loading.

So a personal car or say a ride hail vehicle that could do that in a bus stop as well, uh, and that can create problems for Coda trying to actually quickly get to to the bus stop.

So we're proposing to remove that uh little loophole from that section of code as well.

Well, and it's interesting.

I was sharing the story earlier that um you know, along uh in Bexley where it's two lanes, there was a car that parked the bus tried to get around but couldn't couldn't make the clearance because of the center um planters, and so it essentially blocked traffic all the way back while the bus driver was like laying on the horn for this person to come outside.

And so that's not the first time I've seen something like that in areas where you know it's more congested for a bus.

They don't have the ability to go around a car.

Absolutely.

And so you know, as LinkedIn is coming with dedicated lanes, if folks are misusing those lanes, we're gonna see more of those issues coming along the path.

Not even just in those dedicated lanes, but we're seeing it already.

So I just wanted to point that out as we were having a conversation about this because I think in in some of the moves that we're making, it's for the now, but also building on the future because the city's gonna look very different.

And as we put these structures in place, we want to already orient people to do the right thing so that these don't become an issue later on.

Um, and it's uh it's a little easier for folks to manage because they're already used to it, right?

Well said, thank you, Chair.

Uh, related to these, I touched on loading activity related to some of our mobility goals.

Uh, we're also proposing some adjustments to uh loading zone violations uh in the code as well.

Um loading deliveries, I mentioned in our mission statement, you know, delivery access to goods and services is just as important as somebody driving their car and trying to get as close to your destination as possible, and even more so.

Um, you know, more online uh retail activity, um folks using Grubhub and Doordash using Uber and Lyft.

So that we're just seeing a lot of changes in demands uh on our city streets, and every every city is dealing with this.

We we talk to our peer cities all the time, and we're all going through these growing uh pains together, and we're gonna see more of that activity.

And so, as we're thinking about some of those restrictions in mobility related infrastructure, we acknowledge that we're gonna have to be thoughtful about how we're managing loading zone and delivery activity in general throughout the city.

We'll be exploring various types of pilots.

We've done some in the past.

Um, we'll be doing some more, those are also recommendations in our strategic parking plan.

Um, and and we want to future proof the code to uh allow us to manage those zones in different ways depending on the need.

So um right now we typically don't post a time limit on loaning zones.

We we can um generally it's assumed 15 minutes.

Um, but we may in the future want to calibrate that to certain locations.

Um back to your question about different neighborhoods.

Maybe there are different loading needs in different districts.

Um, so we might want to post a specific time.

We're also seeing cities explore direct um user fees, so by the minute or by a five-minute increment, for example, for folks using a loading zone.

So we're acknowledging that in this code amendment to give us the ability to issue an infraction depending on what the actual regulation is signed on the street.

Um alluded to this earlier um and and back to some um goals with balancing how we're managing um the parking system and not having unintended consequences on folks in the city.

Um of the actually the top two infraction that Amanda mentioned in our top five is failure to register or display.

Uh I think a lot of folks might get that ticket and not be sure exactly what they got the ticket for immediately.

Um so that can be that ticket today can be issued for two different types of violations.

One is if you're parked in the handicapped space, but you did not actually have your handicap placard in the windshield to prove that you were actually able to use it.

The so your failure to display your placard.

The other is failure to display a valid registration ticket.

So your your annual uh registration for your vehicle with the Ohio BMV.

Uh so make sure you get that sticker on there in a timely manner every year when um on your birthday didn't typically.

Um so we issue a lot of those tickets on your wife's car that's registered in your name.

So reminder for husbands, remember your wife's birthday.

May or may not have happened to a council member once or twice.

Yeah.

So uh we're doing a couple of things here.

The the primary thing in code is we're splitting that out into two violations so that it's clearer what somebody is getting that ticket for if you get it.

And it's better for us to understand our own data and patterns.

Um that's one thing that we're doing.

We also just understanding how we're issuing this ticket.

We started to dig into our data and look at where we're issuing this ticket, how often we're issuing this citation.

Um and started to see some things that made us think maybe we should change our own internal policies around how we administer, specifically the the failure to register violation.

Um here's actually an example from from the wild.

Um, our our own director Scacko came upon this uh out in a neighborhood.

Um, somebody who uh took the time to laminate this little note to our parking enforcement staff to please not give them another uh registration ticket.

Um just a couple of days after their their registration had expired.

So and we hear about this often, folks.

I I mailed it in, but I haven't gotten it yet, and then I got a ticket, and then a couple days later I I got another ticket, and maybe a couple of days later they got another ticket.

Um this ticket is different from pretty much any other of the citations in the code.

This is the one that requires you to take another step to remedy.

You have to go or mail at this point.

You if you've let it go this long, you've got to go to the BMV, pay for your your registration.

You know, I think in Franklin County is generally around $60.

Uh on top of that, now you've got a ticket.

If you've got three of those, now you're up to uh $90 just for those three tickets.

So now you're over $100 just to resolve the whole thing.

And if you've gone all the way through that process that Amanda described earlier, three tickets and they've all been filed with the municipal court, technically you're subject to impoundment.

Um at that point, if you try to actually come to the impound lot, pay for your tickets to remedy it, well, you're on registration hold with the Ohio BMV.

So before you can get right with parking services, you've got to get right with the BMV.

So if you go to the BMV to renew your registration, you can't do that because you're on registration home.

So it sort of becomes this cycle.

Um in the meantime, some folks may have gotten dozens of these tickets, um, not necessarily as an intentional you know, policy uh of how we manage the system, but just it, you know, it it is a ticket that's permissible to be issued uh by by city code.

Um some of those tickets are issued by uh the police department as well, um, but but the majority are issued by parking services.

So uh what we're proposing to do is to change how um we're going about administering that particular ticket.

For one, if we uh find an example like this, it's within 30 days of the registration being expired, we would issue a warning ticket.

So it would it would look like it would look like a ticket, uh, but it would be a warning, so no actual fine.

Um if then another 30 days passes, um, still doesn't have a valid registration, we'd issue an actual ticket, but we wouldn't issue another one for that subsequent 30 days for three times.

So, you know, over the course of four months, you could get three tickets.

Um, and at that point you would be subject to impoundment, you know, as permitted by code.

Um, but we wouldn't proceed to issue additional tickets that essentially just rack up and add to the um the financial burden on somebody.

Uh so we're we're trying to sort of balance, you know, we're still enforcing this particular violation, but trying to right-size how we do it.

Uh this is one that we would drop from $50 today to $30, um, and it would not escalate.

So there wouldn't be a late payment associated with that.

Can if folks got a ticket for this, is it retroactive?

I'm just kidding.

Um I I just wanted to, but I did want to call this out because I appreciate the fact that we're acknowledging that you know, this is I I mean, first of all, that you have a warning because I I do think that folks forget, or it is a couple days after and it comes in the mail, and you just, you know, I I think that there is human error involved, or there is another system, or something might have happened that you know there's two addresses.

There's a north calendar and a south calendar that I live at, and my mail often goes to the other person.

We've become friends now because this happens so often, right?

So I think there's other variables here.

So for us to both acknowledge that and give folks a warning and also lower the fine.

I think that's part of also modernizing the code.

I think another part of modernizing, just again, meeting folks where they are, not trying to be punitive, but saying that we want to hold a certain line, but we also want to meet people where they are.

And so I think this is one of the ways that we're doing that.

Um, in addition to again, that that tiered payment system for folks that you know, none of these fines.

I mean, it's it's like a $10 increment to the next one.

And if it's a 20, if it just jumps to 20, then it's only a $10 increment to where your past 30 days.

And so I think that's just an important call out because I think we are trying to understand that obviously we if we have a problem, how are we meeting that problem?

And how are we thinking about both ends, right?

And then on the back end, when you know things may not go exactly as you planned, how are you then ensuring that we're not getting to a place where it becomes so difficult for people they can't get out of a system that you know is is not necessarily always their fault, or they need to find a way to balance both you know getting this ticket with the other uh expenses and other responsibilities that they might have.

So certainly appreciate that.

And I'll say, you know, for for folks that may have dozens of these tickets at that point, it's into thousands of dollars, and we likely aren't recouping those costs.

So, you know, we've also thought about what's the the potential financial impact of of adjusting this particular ticket, and we think that that will be modest.

And I and I, you know, what one thing that I think about often when I and and I think we've had this conversation when we're thinking about parking.

What I think about is I think about folks who are coming to parts of the city that they've never had to come to before.

They don't understand what the parking system is, they don't have their app on their phone.

I think about again, if you have to go to the courthouse for multiple things because you have an ongoing case, even if you're doing jury duty, right?

You've not parked downtown.

I mean, you're not gonna always understand you know what the the ramifications might be, or if you're racking up those tickets and how you pay, because you haven't gotten a parking ticket before, you know, um, or again, other parts of the city that you're visiting, or you're coming downtown to enjoy a festival or something else.

We want to ensure that things stay accessible for people.

And so I think about those folks when we're thinking about the the gamut of folks who might get a parking violation.

I think often people think about folks like us who might be downtown working downtown, downtown all the time, and not the literally thousands of people who are visiting these other parts of the city or even visitors that are coming in.

Like I think about the short north when you know, folks are coming to the convention center for the 100 cheer competitions or gymnastics or whatever else.

And you know, you want to be a hospitable city, they want to get close, they're running late, they have to run in and out, and you know you're you've got two parking tickets by the end of the day because you've moved the car or whatever, right?

So I think again, this is just meeting folks where they are, ensuring that we're holding a line, but making it a system that is a little more user-friendly for folks for as much as getting a parking ticket can be user-friendly for the case.

Never fun to get a parking ticket, but you know, never fun.

Trying again, trying to balance um you know multiple goals.

So I appreciate that.

So, with that, that that's all the content that we have prepared here.

Um, implementation moving forward um from the hearing this evening, uh, we'll be bringing these uh amendments for council's consideration at your next two meetings.

Uh, first reading next week, and then on um uh second reading, hopefully adoption uh on the 15th.

Um so the changes, the code changes themselves would go into effect in January.

Uh importantly, though, there are some back end logistical things that we need to work on to actually implement the new citation fine structure itself.

Uh mentioned a couple of times.

Uh the police department also issues tickets.

So we our enforcement team issues tickets electronically with a handheld device.

Um, and you know, we also use license play recognition as part of the system.

Uh Columbus police don't have all of the technology that we utilize.

So they they issue tickets with a paper copy.

So we have to update all of that paper ticket stock.

So there's some things that we have to do over the the first quarter of next year, uh, including coordination with police.

So we would not expect to see the new citation fine structure itself go into effect until likely April, which also gives us some time to do some uh additional public education around what changes are are coming.

Um so uh I have a couple questions and then I'll hand it over to my colleague if he has any additional questions.

One is um uh you mentioned CPD.

How what does that learning look like in terms of their update of understanding what the new violations might be, what the old all the whole thing?

How does that briefing work?

I'll actually defer to Amanda who's been working with our enforcement team on planning that out.

Yeah, that's what um Clubs Police does in-service training every month.

So they do it electronically, so it's something that each officer can log into.

So we'll put together a presentation very much like we did tonight with all the new information.

We'll have pictures of the new um parking ticket, what that'll look like, um, also information about the new fine structure.

So all that'll be presented to them electronically.

Um, you know, obviously we'll meet internally first, but um we'll provide all officers with in-service training.

Um how are we letting folks know about the potential changes?

So, what is that like campaign for acknowledged for folks to know what are the new infractions, how do they get more time to pay, et cetera.

That'll be a focus of uh the early part of 2026.

Um we do uh we do have a separate service contract for uh public relations around our everything Park Columbus, uh our entire parking system.

Um and this will be one of the things that we develop some public information uh campaign material around.

And as part of that, we'll also update the information on the ticket as well, so that it'll provide you the timelines and the the um early pay versus standard pay versus late pay and what those dates would look like based on the day your ticket was issued, and then all the information and different ways to pay is also on the ticket.

Great.

We also have the the ability to work with our payment vendors, park mobile, um, for the kiosks um to push out some messaging as well.

So similar to when that little pop-up that's like remote check your license or whatever.

Um my other question language access.

This is one question that we've gotten from the community.

So tickets are in English.

How do folks know and understand that and where do they go?

How do they understand what the process is?

That's a great question.

And I think that it's a good reminder for us to be thinking ahead to how can we modernize and diversify um you know how we communicate that.

Obviously, we can't put multiple languages on that paper ticket.

Um, but but that's something that we can go back and take a closer look at.

What could we do to make sure that we're getting this information out to all neighbors in our community?

Yeah, we were um actually ironically, I have a commission meeting on the immigrant and refugee affairs commission after this, and this is actually a question from one of our commissioners.

It's just, you know, someone got a parking ticket, they were trying to understand how to pay it.

So I think that's something, you know, because we have a little bit of time going into April, something that I'd love to for us to work on together to just to understand, you know, whether that's a QR code that somebody takes them to something or whatever the processes may be.

But I just want to make sure as we make things more flexible, there's still an element of our community that is gonna have some language barriers, and we want to make sure that accessibility gets to them as well.

Absolutely, we appreciate that.

And um we're we're happy to explore how we can do that.

Uh we do use language services um for for our hearings from time to time.

We we do get folks um that come down to the impound lot uh that maybe don't use English as a first language.

Um so we do have a little bit of experience with that.

I think there's always uh room to improve.

Great.

Councilmember, do you have questions?

I do.

Okay, these are uh just three quick questions which I'm sure you can answer, and they may be a go a little bit beyond the scope of this particular your your presentation.

So first thing is um we're we're they go particularly to the where I think slide number five, where we manage parking.

Slide number nine, I believe.

Okay, so my first question is is where would residents call um where would residents call who see a violation and want to uh report it to you?

Where would a residence call?

So I own a store, somebody's parked in the handicaps spot.

It's somebody I know that works across the street and they've been there for seven hours.

Where would I call?

So a couple of options.

One would be to use the 311 system.

Um that that's that's always a good way to log a an observation like that, and that goes to our staff or to directly call parking services, and I think on our last slide, which I went too far.

Um, but you can contact parking services at Columbus.gov or the phone number is 614 645-640.

They're always welcome to call that number during our operational hours, and they can um speak to one of our um office assistants and ask some questions and speak to enforcement.

Okay.

All right, then my next question is really more to the you know where we manage parking.

So um when I saw that slide, it's obviously that it's a it's a large area but predefined.

And so would it be fair to um assume that outside of those areas that falls into public safety or the police, you know, for instance, if a car has been parked on a street deep in the deep into the residence for three months or something like that.

That is a public safety issue that goes over.

Primarily on public safety response, and we do coordinate um uh as appropriate with public safety if if we receive one of one of those um service complaints uh from a resident.

Um yeah, we do see a lot of that activity um in terms of ticket issuance that is by public safety outside of that core area where we are.

So is that just it might come through you and you refer it over or your depart your group doesn't get involved in managing those areas outside?

Not typically.

I mean, sure.

From time to time, we may get a request um to to go check on something, and and we do have the ability to issue a ticket anywhere, so that may happen through our operation, but typically our resources are focused in the those high demand areas, so we're not actively patrolling in those areas, and we generally defer to the department of public safety on um calls out to those other areas where we're not actively managing.

Yeah, and then I'm sure you're very um knowledgeable about this, but what what is the I don't know if it's in this part of the code or another part of the code?

What is the um timeline for how long a car can stay on a street or how long or is there any violation for anyone sleeping in a car or anything like that?

That's that's some resonant calls that we've had in the past, and I'm just I don't believe um that there's anything specifically around sleeping in a vehicle or um yeah, managing your hood now.

Um this section of code does uh deal with um what we call a 72 hour rule um that a car technically should not be parked and not moved for over 72 hours.

Um and that's generally the the section of code the that's being uh enforced um for calls around concerns with abandoned vehicles in neighborhoods, for example.

Anything you'd add to that two things I would I'm sorry, I'm done this time.

Go ahead.

I was just gonna say um for folks who are experiencing abandoned vehicles.

I know that you know sometimes a car breaks down, someone just leaves it there because they can't tow it or whatever it may be, right?

Um number one, please use 311.

I know that 311 people do pay attention to 311.

Um it looks it's going to look like your case is closed.

That only means that it's been moved somewhere and someone's doing something about it.

If at some point you feel like you're not getting that response, also at a lot of our area commission meetings, usually every all of our area commissions um are covered by a uh CPD officer that essentially is assigned to that area.

So you could also always go to one of those meetings.

I think what folks want to try to avoid is calling the non-emergency line for CPD to talk about a car that might be in your neighborhood.

I think I think instinctively people want to do that because they think that it'll be more reactionary, but the more appropriate vehicle for um really reporting that would be 311.

And then again, you can go to your area commission.

You could probably talk to someone there.

Um there's other options for folks.

Uh they could always reach out to one of our offices.

Our aides are happy to follow up on a 311 request if you feel like that's not going through.

But that's a little bit more of an appropriate use of time than calling that non-emergency line, which I know folks have had a tendency to do, and uh I'm not sure that you're gonna get to your result any faster by doing that.

So that does allow for for public safety to prioritize their own resources to to get to those issues as well.

Yep.

Exactly.

Um the other thing uh just around 311 also.

I know that in some of these zones, um, as they continue to get developed.

I think we've also gotten some calls.

I think you and I have had conversations about this, uh Justin, just around um as businesses come online, some of the parking might need to change for uh to allow for customers to be in those businesses, maybe perhaps longer, or they weren't there before.

And so their patronage of, you know, they might be at lunch for two hours and or or whatever, a hair salon, I think is the example that I gave you before.

Um, those are also areas where 311, a 311 request could come in for folks for us to look at that parking area, correct?

Certainly.

Yeah.

Because I think we've gotten that um just around business owners who are now coming into places that you know, whether it's a development that has first floor businesses or areas that are getting redeveloped, and so now the parking isn't quite matching uh the clientele needs.

And so obviously we want to ensure that those business owners get the it's also not hospitable to get a parking ticket while you're at lunch or getting your hair done or wherever else because the parking doesn't allow for it.

So um council member, any uh any further questions?

Okay.

Uh we do I do want to acknowledge that we got four pieces of written testimony that came in that I will share with the department.

Um I think all of them might have been shared, but if they weren't, all of them were um uh essentially in favor of the changes.

Many of them focused on again the safety of uh the changes that we were making in terms of, especially around we have all of these great bike lanes.

We've seen this many times.

I think especially as I think about Broad Street, which I drive every single day.

And it is challenging because it is a high use area where we're seeing families ride and they have to go into the street.

So just I think having that partnership with CPD and the other places where they can monitor parking because we have bike lanes all over, not just in the core city, but in some of our neighborhoods and other places.

Or even the misuse of shared use paths, shared use path is for cyclists for people, not for your grill or for your car, as people are getting oriented to how to use them.

So that's what they were focused on.

So I did want to acknowledge those.

We do have one public speaker, and that is Asileen Rodriguez from Coda.

So Aseline, if you wanna come forward, you have three minutes if you wanna introduce yourself and while I said who you represent, but if you want to share your testimony.

Wonderful.

Wonderful, thank you.

Um good evening, Chair Barosa de Padilla and Councilmember Beatty.

Thank you for allowing me to provide testimony on this important topic.

My name is Asileen Rodriguez, Senior Director of Regional Strategic Partnerships at Central Ohio Transit Authority, also known as Coda.

Uh, CODA appreciates City Council's ongoing commitment to improve mobility, safety, and access for all residents.

The proposed updates of uh 2151.01 of the city code, particularly the clarification around parking restrictions in bus only lanes represents an important step forward as CODA prepares for the future high capacity transit through the Link Us Mobility Initiative.

This, as this council knows, Link Us is the region's vision for the uh modern and connected mobility network that will support economic development, ensure equitable access to opportunity, and help our region accommodate historic population growth.

A key component of this vision is the implementation of bus rapid transit corridors designed to move people more efficiently and more reliably.

For BRT to work as intended, dedicated bus lanes must be kept clear.

They are essential to delivering the travel time savings, reliability, and safety benefits that BRT promises.

When a private vehicle blocks a bus-only lane in a non-emergency setting, it disrupts service for hundreds of riders, impacts travel time, and diminishes the return on investment for the entire corridor.

Clear lanes are not simply a matter of convenience, they are a matter of keeping a regional mobility system functioning as design.

That is why CODA supports the city's efforts to strengthen and clarify enforcement authority around bus-only lane restrictions.

We agree that updating the code is necessary to ensure the success of future BRT infrastructure.

Establishing clear rules now will provide uh predictability for the public, support enforcement, and set the foundation for safer, more reliable transit as Link Us projects move from design to construction.

We are grateful that the City of Columbus continues to proactively modernize policies, streetscape and streetscape standards to align with our shared regional mobility goals.

Your leadership and willingness to prepare the BRT implementation now, before the first corridor launches, will make these investments more effective and more transformative for the residents who rely on them.

On behalf of CODA, I want to thank the committee for your thoughtful consideration of these updates to the parking code.

We value our strong partnership with City Council and appreciate our continued work to create a safer, more connected central Ohio.

As it's exciting for we're waiting for Link Us.

I think I've said this many times sitting here.

I know that this is a big change for folks.

We have been a car-centric city for a very, very long time, but we can't continue to be.

We cannot continue to be.

We can't continue to be because, first of all, we do not have a system that can support hundreds, thousands of more cars.

We don't have an environment that can support that.

We do not have people that can afford to only move around in a vehicle, right?

As a city becomes more expensive, expenses go up that are not always things that we can control as city leaders.

We have to ensure that we are giving folks more options in terms of how they get to the things that they need to get to, whether that is to a doctor's appointment or to work or to fund whatever it may be.

We need to provide people with more mobility options.

And that means that when we put safety first and we put efficiency first, that means you're going to have to maybe spend a little bit more time in that car if that's your main mode of transportation.

But if you're on a bike, if you're on a scooter, if you're on a bus, you're gonna move a lot faster.

And why?

Because more people can move that way.

So as we continue to set up the infrastructure, and this is part of changing this parking code.

This is installing more uh more bike lanes, this is investing in link us, investing in all of the uh transit supported infrastructure, the more sidewalks, more trails, more connectivity.

We're doing that in an effort to ensure that everyone has access to moving around this city and that people can continue to stay in the city.

And so y'all are a key partner in that.

But I just want to uplift that because as we talk today about whether it's parking, whether whatever it may be, things are changing for people.

And so our move, if this does not speak to you and your spirit, if this is not your ministry, that's fine.

But understand that it is a ministry of many, many others.

And so we need to ensure to make the city accessible.

So again, thank you.

Thank you for your work.

Thank you for both your personal and professional advocacy.

Thank you for being here today on this snowy Tuesday.

Uh, we appreciate you.

Um you're good.

Thank you.

As I close out this hearing at 5 30.

This is like an hour long co-chain sharing, probably the first one in history, maybe first one in my history.

Um, I want to thank the department.

I want to um thank you for your leadership and thank you for your partnership.

Again, I've said this throughout this hearing.

I think this is meeting folks where they are.

I want to thank uh the members of the media who were here tonight uh with us to help tell the story so that folks understand.

I think as soon as we talk about parking changes, automatically people go to all the bad things about parking.

And there's lots of good things about parking that is here.

Again, as a city, we need to hold a line.

Um, we need to ensure that we are keeping the safety and accessibility of folks top of mind, and I think we're doing that.

We're also understanding that we're making the system just a little bit easier for people to access.

Um, we're helping to incentivize for folks to uh if you unfortunately do find yourself in a place where you are getting a ticket, that you have many ways to pay that, that you if you pay for it early, it's a little bit cheaper for you to pay.

Um, if folks have questions, uh if you have concerns about parking, please feel free to reach out to my office.

Can you give the the number one more time for parking services?

Yep.

614, 645, 6400, or they can email us at parking services at Columbus.gov.

Absolutely.

Folks should maybe do that first.

Come to me second.

I'm just kidding, you can do either or whatever folks feel most comfortable with.

But um again, I I know that uh as we are introducing lots of changes, um, that this is a big change for people for them to get used to.

I'm looking forward to our partnership and uh sharing with folks the good things that are part of these changes for the future and what that looks like in the first quarter of next year.

Again, we will be introducing this for first read, meaning that it will be on the agenda on December 8th.

We will not verbally speak it, but we will come up for a vote uh verbally on the 15th, and then I hope with the um uh partnership of my colleagues that we can pass that, it will go into effect if it if it does pass in January with changes coming in April.

Thank you all for being here tonight.

Get be safe getting home.

Thanks.

Bye bye.