Winter overnight parking laws in Utah, several reasons why I think I can fight this..

[AngryHumanoid]

Centerville City, Utah
Davis County

Hi, this may get lengthy because I've been doing a lot of research on this. Here is the short version: got an overnight parking citation, ordinance in question says "No overnight parking on city streets between November 15th and April 15th", the reason is for snow plows but A- the law is too broad/it wasn't snowing, and B- the city may have violated their own zoning ordinances by failing to ensure my apartment complex would provide enough parking spaces.

Long version: vehicle was parked overnight on the street of a dead end road, citation was issued at 3am (left on the windshield). It did not snow at all that night or the next day, I have data from several weather historical websites which will confirm that. I also confirmed with Public Works that they had no plows in operation that night. Having said that the ordinance doesn't list any exceptions: it says no overnight parking period. However, I researched similar laws in the surrounding cities and found none of them have an equally long restriction on overnight parking (most go from November to February). Also, my city lists on its website the plowing priorities which state that dead end roads will not be plowed unless there is 4 inches or more of snowfall, AND said plowing will not take place until the following business day. This means that they are restricting parking over a 5 month period when the street in question will RARELY be plowed, and then never overnight.

Second issue: the lack of parking is a known issue in the area. City zoning guidelines call for a certain number of parking spaces based on the number of bedrooms at the complex. I don't have the exact numbers yet but the complex is DEFINITELY well under. The reason is because one of the other zoning laws basically says the guidelines can be completely ignored if a proper study is done to prove they will not be needed, OR if shared parking is available nearby. The issues with that are:
A- so far no one at city hall can confirm whether a study was done to allow a lower number of spaces.
B- no one at city hall can confirm whether shared parking was negotiated with the surrounding private business parking lots.
C- when I asked the police about the issue they told me I should have parked on the dirt off the road south of the complex (which many people do), however during my research I found that parking on the dirt IS an violation of zoning ordinances unless an exception has been granted for the specific parcel of land in question. No one at city hall can confirm whether such an exception has been granted.
D- when I asked the apartment complex people about all this they explicitly said that I was not allowed to park in the lots nearby and they've always told people to park on the street when necessary.
E- when I asked the 1 business in the area that's open (the others are still under construction) whether residents of the complex were allowed to park in their lot they said no and that cars parked overnight may be towed.
F- zoning regulations DO allow for an exception to be made to the no overnight parking laws, which it seems to me should be granted for the street in question.

Regardless of my belief that I have a strong argument the crux of the matter is this: I need to go to traffic court to argue this and I do not know the legal procedures involved. Can I go to traffic court, state that I am not guilty and lay all this out, or is this outside the purview of traffic court? If the judge says "None of that matters, you parked on the street overnight, pay the fine" can I appeal the decision to a court that WOULD have the power to overturn this? Would I have to sue the city to get them to change the laws or grant the exception to allow parking on the street? Do you think I have a good enough argument period? And last, and possibly the most important question: is it really worth my time to push this as far as I can to get out of a $30 dollar citation/however much my insurance will go up? Thanks in advance to anyone who actually makes it through to the end of this...

 

[LdiJ]

I do not believe that parking tickets cause insurance to go up. They are no points tickets. Therefore no, its not really worth the fight in my opinion.

 

[AngryHumanoid]

Thanks LdiJ, that does make me feel better since I was more worried about the insurance than anything else. Having said that: I enjoy a good argument, and I think in this case they are definitely taking advantage of people, do you think I have a case?

I did forget to mention one other thing: the citation amount is also more than any other city in the region, so it's obvious (if not provable) that they're doing it for the money and not the actual public safety reasons they claim. Do you think I have a chance to change anything, if not for myself then for my fellow citizens? (assume I was wearing a cape and posing dramatically in front of a breeze when I said that)

 

[xylene]

Laws do not need to establish they are just to be valid and have punishments applied.

 

[justalayman]

you're argument about the ban due to the time of year; you can attempt to alter the ordinance but it won't affect your ticket even if you eventually get it changed. There is nothing inherently improper with the ordinance as is


You can chase the lack of parking in the apartment community but that isn't going to allow parking on the streets but it could result in some solution such as added parking at the community

 

[LdiJ]

Thanks LdiJ, that does make me feel better since I was more worried about the insurance than anything else. Having said that: I enjoy a good argument, and I think in this case they are definitely taking advantage of people, do you think I have a case?

I did forget to mention one other thing: the citation amount is also more than any other city in the region, so it's obvious (if not provable) that they're doing it for the money and not the actual public safety reasons they claim. Do you think I have a chance to change anything, if not for myself then for my fellow citizens? (assume I was wearing a cape and posing dramatically in front of a breeze when I said that)

That is really up to you. I have tilted at windmills a time or two in my lifetime (Don Quixote reference) and once in a while they accomplished results. However, if you really decide to do something about it then rather than attempting to do something through the courts, the better effort would be to lobby your local government representatives to change the law.

That kind of local ordinance isn't something that winning a case would do much for actual change. Convincing a local government representative that the law is too broadly written and needed to be clarified would have a more lasting effect.

I do not agree with you that they are doing it for money. In order to effectively plow, they really do need cars off the street during the winter. Therefore they need the fines to be significant enough to cause people to think twice about parking on the street. You are in an area where snow is a significant issue. Your real argument is that the law is too broad and needs some clarification/exemptions. The courts cannot really do that for you, but lobbying local government representatives could.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

When they issued the citation, a parking lot study was not necessary, how are they supposed to know that is why you parked there? That is an issue to take up with zoning.