Is Park City’s New China Bridge Parking Plan Enforceable?

We heard this morning on KPCW that the city was going to use license plate readers to enforce parking limits of 6 hours at the China Bridge Parking Lot. It was claimed that this will prevent people from changing parking spots to avoid a ticket. Today they put white chalk marks on tires. Tomorrow they’ll scan your plate and track whether you’ve spent more than the allotted time in the garage. Perfect. The City is using $40,000 technology to foil those most evil doers in our society… the Main Street worker who leaves her job for 5 minutes to move her car to avoid a ticket. Don’t worry Park City, you are now safe.

The only problem? This doesn’t seem to jibe with the Park City Parking Code. There is section 9- 3- 3. TIME-LIMITED PARKING IN COMMERCIAL AREAS that says:

“Public streets and public parking facilities within commercial areas may be designated with time limitations. It shall be unlawful to park a vehicle in any area so designated by posting signs or meter legends for longer than designated time limits. Vehicles parked longer than posted time limits are subject to fine(s) and/or impoundment.”

Where’s the problem? It’s in the definition of the word park. Park is defined as:

“Stopping, standing, or leaving a motor vehicle in a fixed spot or location on a street or public parking facility for any length of time, except when required to stop or stand because of the flow of traffic, or to yield to other traffic, or in compliance with the requirements of traffic control devices or police officers.”

So, if you move your car, you don’t appear to meet the definition of the word park. That’s the problem with these sorts of ideas. How far is the city willing to go to get people to buy permits.

It looks like they’ll have to go far enough to actually redefine the word park.