Mt. Lebanon revisits overnight on-street parking issue
Mt. Lebanon Commission has resumed pursuing a revised ordinance addressing on-street overnight parking in the municipality.
During their Sept. 22 discussion session, commissioners revisited a proposed course of action that has been at least three years in the making so far, and they agreed to continue moving forward.
At the heart of the issue is an “abuse of the system,” as Craig Grella, commission president, referred to it. Under the current ordinance, residents can request exceptions to the prohibition of parking on municipal streets from 2 to 6 a.m., ostensibly for short-term extenuating circumstances.
“It boils down to this: One in every three parking requests comes from one of only 10 streets in the municipality. That’s essential to what we’re talking about, and those 10 streets have not changed in the last 10 years,” Grella said. “The majority of this is caused by people who have parking available to them but choose not to use it.”
The overnight parking restrictions have been in place since 1977, for reasons that include concerns for public safety.
“The fire department says prohibiting overnight street parking allows for emergency vehicles to have improved access,” Commissioner Mindy Ranney said. “The police department says that it allows for better visibility when patrolling.”
Related ordinances throughout the years have allowed for exceptions in certain cases, such as when residents are hosting guests or having their driveways paved. Until an online request system was implemented in 2018, residents were to call municipal staff and provide reasons.
That same year, Grella joined then-commissioner John Bendel in examining several years’ worth of requests.
“There are some people who request literally hundreds of parking spots every year, which means they’re requesting every night for multiple vehicles,” Grella said. “And they’re giving excuses like this, time and time again:
“The reason they needed to park overnight was because they were taking meds for diarrhea. They’re visiting a pregnant girlfriend. They have a tree out front that has acorns that put dents in their car. And literally one person who used the same reason every night more than 600 times: ‘made-up reason No. 149.'”
With a new ordinance, commissioners seek to limit the number of requests that can be made annually and also to accommodate residents who have legitimate parking problems.
Next month, commissioners plan to discuss the integration of license plate reading technology, which is intended to have a key role in the police department’s enforcement of parking regulations.
Grella specifically addressed enforcement with regard to on-street overnight parking.
“What does it look like? How do we make sure it’s done properly? I think it’s going to involve more budget than we currently have put toward it, related to overnight parking enforcement,” he said. “We’re in this now with parking, but you can apply this to any ordinance we make. If we craft an ordinance and then we don’t fund the budget to the effect that that ordinance can be enforced, you’re essentially saying, we don’t care to enforce that ordinance. So why do it in the first place?”
Commissioners plan to review costs.
“This is not meant to be a revenue source for the municipality,” Commissioner Steve Silverman said.