Cape May Council Revisits Parking Permits for Residents

CAPE MAY — A year ago, following a lawsuit, City Council rescinded an ordinance that gave residents without driveways the opportunity to apply for a curbside space to park their car.
On April 6, a parking committee presented the results of its work to council to find a new plan to allow an assigned space for residents through a parking permit.
To avoid another lawsuit, a proposed ordinance will be examined by Tom Kelly of the state Legislative Services Office, said Councilman David Kurkowski.
Parking Committee Chairman Bill Murray said the first parking permit ordinance was passed by council in June 2008. After the ordinance was amended one year ago, the city was sued when the litigant lost his parking permit.
The amendment was designed to keep permits out of the hands of part time residents, rental units and multi-family buildings, he said.
Committee member Kate Emerson said there were elderly residents in Cape May that had to park blocks from their homes in the summer tourist season. She said the city initially issued 44 permits, stopping in April 2009.
Of those, 18 permits covered metered spaces while 26 covered non-metered spaces. Emerson said 10 permit holders were year-round residents while 34 were seasonal residents. All told about $20,000 was collected in fees for the reserved parking spaces, she said.
Emerson said the program was supposed to be “revenue neutral” with the cost of the permits replacing revenue lost from meters.
“We calculated roughly that for every permit for a parking space at a meter, where we lose the revenue, we need to get two parking spaces in a non-metered area…” she said.
The committee met with Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) and former parking permit holders.
She said there were objections to the former parking permit plan:
• Landlords offered renters parking permit as a benefit.
• Spaces with permits were left vacant for long periods of time, particularly those of seasonal residents.
• Spaces, particularly on one-way streets, were not in front of the house of the permit holder.
• The attitude if bought a house with no driveway, “you can live with it.”
Proposed new parking permit regulations in the draft ordinance include using a sticker attached to the bumper of the car of the permit holder, something that would not be transferable to another vehicle, said Emerson. The permit and sticker would need to be renewed annually.
Only one parking permit would be issued per block lot. In the case of condominiums, the condo association would determine who gets the single street side parking space, she said.
The effective time of the permit would run from May 1 to Oct. 31.
The ordinance will be introduced at council’s next meeting, a public hearing held in May and become effective in June. Murray said the committee would work with City Manager Bruce MacLeod to determine the cost of the parking permits.
Mayor Edward J. Mahaney Jr. said he preferred language be included in the ordinance indicating the permit would not be transferred to a new owner if a property was sold. He said the lawsuit that scuttled the first permit ordinance came from a landlord of a weekly rental who was providing free parking for renters.