Overnight parking changes being pursued in Mt. Lebanon
Mt. Lebanon officials continue to pursue changes to policies regarding overnight parking on streets.
Police Chief Aaron Lauth presented an update to commissioners during their Oct. 10 open discussion session, addressing proposed revisions to the relevant ordinance, which does not permit parking on municipal thoroughfares between 2 and 6 a.m.
“What we’re really looking to do is isolate it to the fact that we will allow on-street overnight parking, but in a very limited amount,” Lauth said. “Generally, we’re going to still prohibit overnight on-street parking. What we’re going to look to do, though, is if residents find a need to park on the street, we will give them a certain number of free passes, understanding that there are special circumstances and special situations.”
The suggested maximum is 10 per vehicle.
“Once the free passes are exhausted, then a resident would have the opportunity to buy a single-day on-street overnight parking permit,” the chief said, mentioning the possibility of a $5 fee, which is not intended to generate revenue. “This is more about getting our streets cleared of cars. It’s a negative public safety aspect.”
At a previous discussion session, Lauth explained that limiting overnight parking is intended to help protect neighborhoods from crime while making it easier for patrolling officers to identify potential dangers from lurking vehicles. Also, clear streets provide better conditions for snow removal and garbage collection.
“We’ve been looking at a couple of different systems in terms of an overall comprehensive parking management solution that encompasses a lot more than just overnight parking,” Lauth said.
A strong candidate for providing such products and services is NuPark of Lubbock, Texas, a company with an open parking management platform that is being used in more than 80 locations in 30 states.
“The software package that they offer does have the ability to incorporate the way we’d like to rewrite this overnight parking ordinance. It also allows us to consistently enforce it,” the chief said, by employing license plate recognition technology.
The system also would help with other types of parking enforcement.
“If we decide to go to more pay by plate, like you see in the city of Pittsburgh, these programs are fully encompassing to where that data automatically streams into this software platform,” Andrew McCreery, municipal finance director, said.
At this point, Mt. Lebanon residents can apply for special permission to park on the street, as noted on the municipal website.
“Permission will only be given to those persons who can not park the vehicle in their driveway due to construction, repaving, or an overnight guest and the driveway is currently filled with other vehicles.”
Lauth, though, previously told commissioners there is no way to deny any request, no matter how ridiculous the justification. For an example, he cited an instance in which the explanation was “because I’m an American.”