Summary & Draft Ordinance for Montpelier

QUICK SUMMARY of OTHER CITIES
Quite a few other cities in the snowbelt have a process for declaring emergency snow parking bans. Some have a "declaration" process involving local officials (city manager, DPW, etc.) and some have an "automatic" snow ban when there's 1/2 inch to 2" of snow on the streets. All have a simple system for alerting residents when the parking ban is in effect, using the local broadcast media, a dial-in hotline, and an email and/or pager alert systems. Some cities also have special flashing lights (similar to school zone lights) or a changeable message board that announces the snow ban. However, this expensive level of infrastructure seems less needed in today's communication age than in years past. Details of various other ordinances are below.

Montpelier's Current Ordinance

Sec. 10-713. NIGHT PARKING DURING WINTER.

Parking of motor vehicles, teams, carts, or any other conveyance on the streets of the city of Montpelier between the hours of 1:00 A.M. and 7:00 A.M. is hereby prohibited between November 15 and April 1 of each and every year. The City Manager may, by executive order, prohibit night parking at any other times of the year if emergency road conditions exist as a result of ice or snow conditions. Attention to this Section will be brought to residences each year by issuing news releases to the local news media by the City Manager’s Office, said news releases to commence the last week in October of each year.

Possible new ordinance?

Sec. 10-713. EMERGENCY PARKING BAN FOR WINTER SNOW REMOVAL OR OTHER CAUSES.

The city manager, or his or her designee, may declare an emergency parking ban. The declaration of an emergency parking ban may be made applicable to all city streets or only to certain streets or streets within a defined perimeter. Such a declaration shall be for the purpose of plowing or removing snow or ice, or for other good cause as stated in the declaration of the parking ban. A snow parking ban will ordinarily be declared the night before 2 or more inches of snow is forecast, the night after 2 inches of snow has fallen, or other times as determined by the city manager. Parking on the city streets shall be prohibited from 1:00 AM until 7:00 AM or other hours as designated in the declaration of the ban. The declaration shall be made no less than six (6) hours prior to the starting time of the ban. The city manager or his or her designee shall inform the general public of the ban by issuing an alert for immediate release to the news and other media including the reasons for the ban, the area affected by the ban, and the period during which the parking ban is in effect.

How to notify residents?
Most other cities do not write the details of the notification system into their ordinance, beyond an alert via the news media. However, in practice all of them use a telephone hotline and an email alert system. Street signage ranges from elaborate systems with flashing lights to "snow route" placards.

• Broadcast news media.
• Telephone hotline: This could be an announcement-only voicemail. It does not need to be a full telephone line. (Is there a way this can be dovetailed with flood alert systems?)
• Email listserve: The city could easily establish a free email listserve -- similar to the one developed for flood alerts.
• City website: Depending on staffing, this may be too complicated. An email and telephone system is probably better.
• Signs: Change the signs on the way into the city to refer to snow parking bans, and provide the hotline number on the sign.
• Flashing lights, other alerts: None. Too complicated, expensive, and potentially an eyesore. If Montpelier already had an icon sign visible in much of the city, like Portland's Time & Temperature sign, it would make sense to use it. But we don't, so let's leave this idea aside.

Ordinance considerations:

• What does the City consider to be a "plowable" snowstorm, and will a 2" rule fit with that? (if not, adjust the amount)
• How do the hours fit with the normal plow driver's schedules? The hours in the draft ordinance above were simply taken from the current ordinance, but different hours may be preferred.
  
• What will the fine be for violating the parking ban? Does that need to be written into the ordinance (it is not in the old one, so there must be a default fine.)
• I have heard that it is illegal to park bicycles on the sidewalks at night in the winter; is this the ordinance that causes this? Does the new ordinance need to address bicycles? Could bicycle parking be restricted only in the event of a snow emergency?
• The old ordinance referred to "teams, carts, or other conveyance" - is that needed?

Implementation considerations:

• How much money will the city need to spend to change signage on the way into the city? The current signs say:

PARKING BAN
On street parking prohibited
Nov. 15 - April 1
1:00 am - 7:00 am
Violators may be towed

Could these be edited with a sticker to give the hotline number?

• Could the city publish a simple brochure, conduct outreach via news media, and ask local organizations to put a short notice in newsletters (MDCA, churches, schools)?
• Alternative parking: Would parking garages and/or surface lots be available for free overnight parking when there is a snowstorm?
  
• Providing an outlet for overflow parking may or may not be desirable. To do so may encourage more cars in the city. Currently, everyone has a place to put their cars, all winter. It may be a pain in the butt to do so, but the place exists. Removing the need for off-street parking entirely may promote more cars.
• If parking garages will be make available, then the timing of a typical ban should be considered in terms of using these garages. This ordinance draft suggests an overnight ban (1 am-7 am) which is what the current ban is. The parking lots should available as soon as the parking ban is declared, around 5-6 pm. The ban could be lifted at 7 am, with cars required out of the overflow parking by 7:30 am or 8 am. This timing would generally allow business use of the parking, especially on a snowy day when some people may be arriving into town a bit later. It would be better to use parking garages than lots, as it would not be possible to plow parking lots while they were filled with cars from the snow ban parkers.
• Most cities that make alternative parking available do not have it written into the ordinance.
  

Please see the posts below for full details on how other cities handle a snow parking ban.