For: Economic Development Committee [April 25, 2018]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Robb R. Steel, Interim City Administrator
FROM: Robert G. Eisenbeisz, P.E., Public Works Director/City Engineer
Title
Request the Economic Development Committee to review and provide comments and direction for the Proposed Street Sweeping Parking Enforcement Program.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The City provides street sweeping services to residential, commercial, and industrial roadways throughout the City. Street sweeping is a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program best management practice (BMP) and improves quality of life. The process of street sweeping helps the City to remove trash and debris from the streets and storm drain system, thus reducing potential pollutants from affecting downstream watersheds while enhancing the aesthetic appearance of neighborhoods. Parked vehicles along the curbside severely hamper the effectiveness the street sweeping program because vehicle obstructions prevent the sweepers from reaching the gutter line in order to accomplish an effective and efficient sweeping program.
The City is currently subject to implementing various efforts designed to reduce bacteria and nutrients under the Middle Santa Ana Total Maximum Daily Loading (TMDL) program for bacteria, which the Regional Water Board participates in through the Comprehensive Bacteria Reduction Plan (CBRP), adopted in 2012. In addition to the TMDL for Bacteria, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted a statewide Trash TMDL in 2015 that requires cities to implement programs to prevent trash from entering the storm drain system starting in 2019. Enhanced street sweeping is a key component to compliance with both of these water quality related requirements.
Currently, the City contracts with Burrtec Waste for street sweeping services; Burrtec subsequently subcontracts with Clean Streets to provide street sweeping services throughout the City. In 2014, the City negotiated additional sweeping services with Burrtec that allowed sweeping services to expand to the industrial areas south of Interstate 10.
On an annual basis, the City sweeps the following miles of streets and collects the following amount of debris:
Street sweeping in residential and industrial areas typically occurs twice per month on a first/third or second/fourth week schedule. The street sweeping contractor sweeps commercial areas, including municipal parking lots on a weekly basis. The City sweeps twelve districts - no sweeping occurs on the days of fifth weeks of the month when applicable. A copy of the current sweeping route map is included as Attachment 1. Over a one-year period, the street sweeping includes 11,504 curb miles of streets, and picks up approximately 223 pounds per curb-mile during each sweeping period.
In order to improve the effectiveness of the street sweeping program, the City has been exploring the implementation of parking restrictions on street sweeping days. The California Vehicle Code (CVC) allows a city to implement and enforce parking restrictions. CVC Section 22507.6 permits local authorities to establish by ordinance or resolution a prohibition or restriction of parking or standing of vehicles for the purposes of street sweeping. The following is from Section 22507.6 of the Vehicle Code:
“Local authorities may, by ordinance or resolution, prohibit or restrict the parking or standing of vehicles on designated streets or highways, or portions thereof, for the purpose of street sweeping. No ordinance or resolution relating to the parking or standing of commercial vehicles in a residential district shall be effective with respect to any commercial vehicle making pickups or deliveries of goods, wares, or merchandise from or to any building or structure located on the restricted street or highway, or for the purpose of delivering materials to be used in the repair, alteration, remodeling, or reconstruction of any building or structure for which a building permit has previously been obtained. No such ordinance or resolution shall be effective until the street or highway, or portion thereof, has been sign-posted in accordance with the uniform standards and specifications of the Department of Transportation, or local authorities have caused to be posted in a conspicuous place at each entrance to the street a notice not less than 17 inches by 22 inches in size, with lettering not less than one inch in height, setting forth the day or days and hours parking is prohibited. As used in this section, “entrance” means the intersection of any street or streets comprising an area of restricted parking for street-sweeping purposes on the same day or days and hours with another street or highway not subject to such a parking restriction, or subject to parking restrictions on different days and hours. (Amended by Stats. 1982, Ch. 466, Sec. 115.)”
Several cities within both Riverside and San Bernardino counties currently prohibit parking on the day of street sweeping during the hours of sweeping operations, typically between 8AM and 4PM. These cities include Chino Hills, Grand Terrace, Riverside, Perris, Lake Elsinore and San Jacinto.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION:
Staff is proposing to develop a street sweeping parking enforcement program that would prohibit curbside parking between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on designated sweeping days. The Rialto Municipal Code, Section 10.28.040 “Parking and Interfering with Construction or Cleaning of Street” currently states that:
“On any street or highway where the use of such street or highway or a portion thereof is necessary for the cleaning, repair or construction of the street or highway or the installation of underground utilities or where the use of the street or highway or any portion thereof is authorized for a purpose other than the normal flow of traffic or where the use of the street or highway or any portion thereof is necessary for the movement of equipment, articles or structures of unusual size, and the parking of such vehicle prohibits or interferes with such use or movement; provided that signs giving notice of such no parking are erected or placed at least twenty-four hours prior to the effective time of such no parking.”
The penalty for a violation, as established by Council Resolution on August 23, 2011, of this section of the ordinance shall be $35.00 with a $50 Delinquent Fine.
Curbside Vehicle Parking
As part of the research relating to this program, staff requested Burrtec/Clean Street to conduct a survey of the number of vehicles that the sweeper went around during its normal route. The table below shows the results of the survey conducted in September 2016:
During the month, the sweeper encountered 15,058 vehicles, which limited the sweeper’s effectiveness in sweeping the areas with vehicles parked on the street. This translates into 180,700 vehicles per year parked along the curbside. While the typical passenger vehicle is approximately 20 feet long, by taking into consideration that the sweeper must swing out away from the vehicle to avoid the vehicle, the net impact is between 40 and 60 feet of curb not swept each time. Over time, this would mean nearly 9.035 million curb-feet are missed or 1,711 miles of curb each year. Given that the total curb miles swept each year is 11,504 miles, this represents approximately 14.9% of the total curb miles missed. This also represents nearly 224 tons of materials (the equivalent of 22 typical refuse trucks) that remain on the city’s streets due to inability to sweep effectively. The pictures in Attachment 2 further demonstrate the typical problems that exist.
Proposed Alternative Sweeping Schedules
As part of the design of the sweeping enforcement program, the City and Burrtec investigated the possibility of alternate side/alternate day sweeping schedules. In an alternate side/alternate day sweeping schedule, sweeping scheduled on one side of a street only, allowing parking on the opposite side. Sweeping for the opposite side of the street would occur on the following day. It was determined that the loss of efficiency in the sweeping program would be significant if an alternate side/alternate day sweeping schedule is implemented. Inefficiency will occur, because there will be more non-sweep route miles, such as what would occur in the case of sweeping a cul-de-sac street. The sweeper would have the brooms down on one side of the street, and then would drive down the opposite side with the brooms up. In essence, such routing would almost double the amount of miles that the sweeper would need to travel each month.
City staff recognized that there are some streets particularly in high-density populated areas, which lack sufficient off-street parking to accommodate residential parking needs. City staff identified nine neighborhoods with multi-family housing with this particular problem. To reduce the impact on these neighborhoods staff recommends an alternate side/alternate day sweeping schedule in those specific situations.
Staff recommends two enforcement periods per scheduled sweeping day per zone. One will be from 7:30 to 12:00 in those areas with sweeping in the morning, and another will be from 11:00 AM to 4:00PM in those areas with sweeping in the afternoon. Staff is currently working with the City’s street sweeping provider to prepare mapping for these areas. The City of Riverside uses a similar program to minimize the disruption of residents parking activities to the smallest possible window. This would reduce the inconvenience of no parking to no more than 10 hours per month for each residence.
Proper Signage
To enforce no parking on the street during street sweeping days, appropriate signage is required at the entrance to each neighborhood or district per the vehicle code. City staff mapped out the required sign locations. The Vehicle Code requires a minimum installation of 1,648 signs. Installation of additional signs may be necessary based on field operations, complaints and other factors on an as-needed basis per Police Department’s recommendations, once enforcement activities commence. City staff has budgeted for the installation of approximately 2,000 signs and proposes to use a contractor to furnish and install the signs.
Implementation of the program will be over a four-month period, subject to the issuance of a contract for award of sign installation and the time required for installation of signs. The table below gives the zones and quantities of signs in each sweeping zone:
|
Zone |
1st & 3rd Week |
2nd & 4th Week |
Total Signs |
|
1 |
Monday |
- |
150 |
|
2 |
Tuesday |
- |
235 |
|
3 |
Wednesday |
- |
111 |
|
4 |
Thursday |
- |
144 |
|
5 |
Friday |
- |
128 |
|
6 |
- |
Monday |
124 |
|
7 |
- |
Tuesday |
297 |
|
8 |
- |
Wednesday |
135 |
|
9 |
- |
Thursday |
142 |
|
10 |
- |
Friday |
92 |
|
11 |
- |
Monday |
40 |
|
12 |
Tuesday |
|
50 |
|
|
|
Total: |
1648 |
The expected sign installation in each zone is a minimum of forty (40) signs per day or 200 signs per week. This will require approximately ten (10) weeks for completion of the installation of all signs resulting in a two-and-a-half-month period for sign installation.
Public Outreach/Education
During the first sixty days, the outreach plan will include the following:
• Staff will post flyers and information about the program on the City’s website, on social media, Nixel, Nextdoor and print materials in the Rialto Progress Magazine.
• Send parking enforcement information as bill inserts with Rialto Water Services and Burrtec billing.
• Once signage is in place, parking control officers will distribute educational outreach materials on each vehicle that is in violation of the parking program. This public education piece is bilingual and looks like a citation. It explains the new parking enforcement program and provides the date that actual enforcement will begin in the zone. Printed on the ticket will be the parking violation fine as informational only. The parking enforcement vehicles will be equipped with License Plate Reader technology, which allow for an immediate check for stolen or out of registration vehicles. The Police Department will address issues of this nature.
• Staff is developing a phone app/email reminder to provide a reminder notification to residents who register to use this app/reminder. This application reminds residents in advance to move their car prior to the arrival of the sweeper. This outreach program will further minimize the number of violations while improving the effectiveness of the overall program. The annual cost for this program is $4,995.
Police Enforcement
The Police Department uses DataTicket of Newport Beach, CA, as the City’s current citation processing company. DataTicket manages citations due to noncompliance with parking restrictions. DataTicket receives citations daily at the end of each shift. DataTicket processes the citations, handles any appeal processes with the Rialto police Department, files notices as appropriate with the Department of Motor Vehicles and collects the fines via a link on the City’s website or through telephone processing. Law enforcement personnel as required per Weiss v. City of Los Angeles conduct first level review of citations that are appealed to Dataticket. The cost of those appeals depends on who does them and how many citations are appealed each month. Currently a Traffic Corporal handles the first level appeals with Dataticket.
Based on the “go-around” data, the maximum number of violations per year could be approximately 180,700 potential violations. Based upon the experiences of other agencies that have implemented similar programs, the program anticipates that 80% of residents will comply with the new enforcement program. This will result in the issuance of approximately 3,012 citations per month or 36,139 citations per year (138 citations per program day). Typically, the City dismisses or voids 10% of the citations due to various reasons or in the interest of justice. Of the remaining citations, around 30% are paid within the 21-day period, while roughly 40% are paid as delinquent. About 20% of the citations are unpaid through the normal process and are ultimately referred to the Department of Motor Vehicles for placement of liens on a vehicle’s registration. Of this 20%, about 16% are typically paid through the license registration lien process leaving 4% that cannot be processed by DMV. This means that of the total citations issued, approximately 14% will be dismissed, or uncollectable. Below is a graph of this data:
On May 3, 2017, the Transportation Commission received a presentation of the proposed street sweeping and enforcement program and the Utility Commission received the presentation on May 16, 2017. Both commissions unanimously approved the concept and recommended moving the recommendations forward to the City Council.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
Pursuant to Section 15378(a), a “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. According to Section 15378(b), a Project does not include: (5) Organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY:
Approval of this action complies with the City of Rialto General Plan Goals and related Policies:
Measure 8.17: National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) Compliance
Continue to comply with all provisions of the National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) permit and support regional efforts by SARWQCB to improve and protect water quality.
• Limit disturbance of natural water bodies and natural drainage systems.
• Employ pollution prevention methods, source controls, and treatment using small collection strategies located at, or as close as possible to, the source.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed and approved the staff report.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The following table lists the projected program costs.
The estimated initial start-up cost of the program is about $620,000, with the largest cost components being $370,000 for sign installation and $150,500 for two dedicated parking enforcement vehicles needed to cover the number of sweeping days, while allowing for a vehicle to be taken out of service for maintenance or repair. Approximately $62,100 is budgeted for program development and management, sign installation, purchase of printed materials, handheld citation units and other support. An 8.5% contingency of $36,700 has been included in the start-up costs.
The estimated first year costs for enforcement of the street sweeping parking program will be approximately $619,400.00 per year, with the greatest single expense relating to the citation-processing program.
The program costs are outlined in the table below.
The Police Department has indicated that in order to provide full staffing for this effort, three new Parking Control Officer positions and two parking enforcement vehicles would be required. This staffing level will allow the department to cover approximately 50 hours per week of program operations as well as allow flexibility in scheduling for vacations and leave. The Department is requesting a minimum of two new parking enforcement vehicles for this program in order to ensure that a fully equipped vehicle is available and to allow vehicles to be scheduled for maintenance and repairs as necessary.
The City is proposing to fund implementation of the state-mandated Trash Policy (TMDL), which requires the City to retrofit full-trash-capture devices into all catch basins in commercial, industrial and multifamily areas over a ten-year period. This cost is estimated to be approximately $75,000 per year to retrofit 250 catch basins over a ten-year period. In addition, staff is recommending that the NPDES Program, including regional programs, technical support and illegal discharge activities, in the amount of $140,000, be funded from this program.
Funds for the startup and partial funding of the first year of the program in the amount of $1,031,548 have been budgeted in Waste & Environmental Fund Account 212-500-7313-3001-150805-05. The city anticipates that approximately 36,139 citations may be issued per year, generating potential fines of up to $1,391,000 in the first year of operations for an average cost per citation of $38.50.
The following table shows a five-year projection of the number of anticipated citations, revenues and expenses. This table assumes that compliance with the street sweeping parking enforcement will improve 5% each year, with a corresponding decrease in the number of citations issued and citation processing costs. Staff projects enforcement expenses to increase each year at 2.5% for the five-year period and there is no corresponding increase in the bail amount for each citation. Staff believes that after five years, the program will be sufficiently mature that the projected number of citations issued reflects on-going operations. These results are similar to those seen in Perris and Riverside.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff requests the EDC to provide the following:
• Provide additional guidance and direction regarding the program; or,
• Direct the staff to present the program for approval to the City Council.