Tacoma could soon make big changes to parking rules. What will it mean for drivers?
Tacoma drivers, take note: The city could soon make changes to its parking and bike-lane rules.
The Tacoma City Council on July 30 heard a presentation on the proposals. An ordinance that would amend the traffic component of the municipal code is on the agenda Tuesday, Aug. 6.
Eric Huseby with the city’s Public Works Department said it’s a three-pronged package touching on mobile-application parking payments, permit-only parking zones and obstruction of bike lanes.
He told The News Tribune that local rules don’t acknowledge online or phone-app payments.
“The code is just kind of silent to that,” Huseby said. “It’s more just a clean-up than anything, just to add in mobile payment as an acknowledged transaction in our system.”
Mobile-app payment for parking
The way today’s code reads is that after paying at a meter, one must display the receipt in the vehicle, Huseby said. That has led to confusion since paying by mobile app doesn’t print out anything to display.
The code update would make it clear that a license plate can serve as a driver’s credential for a parking session, he said.
The city is “semi-aggressively” seeking to increase adoption of the parking-mobile app in the downtown market, he said. It’s a convenient platform that sends a notification when a person’s session has expired. Drivers also can easily extend their time that way.
“It’s just a lot easier of a transaction once you get set up on that,” Huseby said. “You don’t have to stand in the rain and pay a meter.”
‘Permit parking only’ zones
Passing the ordinance would mean “permit parking only” zones could be created and enforced throughout Tacoma’s non-residential areas, namely the business districts. Huseby said the city has a number of areas where parking isn’t allowed.
Such no-parking sections are often meant to improve safety, he said, and in other cases they work to prevent “undesirable use of the right of way.”
For instance, one stretch along Cedar Street has experienced parking issues over the years thanks to RVs and big commercial vehicles, Huseby said. It was then dubbed a no-park segment to help curb such use.
However, the city has since heard from some local businesses that they want parking in the area to be opened for employees and daily users.
“If a permit parking zone were implemented here,” Huseby continued, “we would be able to consider offering permits to neighboring businesses to support those needs while continuing to have the underlying prohibitions on use by large commercial vehicles, RV’s and motorhomes that the no parking treatments were initial[ly] implemented to address.”
The permit-only tool for commercial areas would be modeled off the city’s residential-parking program, he said during a video interview. Signs would alert drivers to such zones.
Bike-lane ordinance
Huseby said the code is also silent on bike-lane enforcement.
Sometimes a driver will leave their car in the bike lane when running a quick errand inside a building, he said. Other times large cars jut out too far when parked.
As the city expands the number of bike lanes, it has received more calls about violations, Huseby said.
Tacoma over the past dozen years has increased its bike-infrastructure miles from 40 to more than 80, city spokesperson Maria Lee noted via email. Grit City is aiming to have 140 such miles by the end of the decade and 265 miles by 2050.
City Council member Kristina Walker said during Tuesday’s regular meeting that she greatly appreciates the proposed updates, especially when it comes to bike-lane obstructions.
“I also get a lot of emails about that, and it’s such an important safety piece,” Walker said. “If a bike rider has to kick out into the street, it’s bad for everybody.”
Next steps for the ordinance
The costs associated with the ordinance would be minimal, Huseby said. A recent City Council action memo put the estimated total at less than $5,000.
Those who violate the ordinance’s bike-lane and permit-parking portions would be subjected to a $30 penalty, he said.
The proposed ordinance will go up for a second reading on Tuesday, Aug. 6, he added. If it passes, the city would start warning folks of the changes, such as by issuing warnings for bike-lane infractions.
Huseby estimates beginning enforcement on bike lanes within 45 days and permit parking by the end of the year.
Multiple groups would be charged with enforcing the updates, he said: the Tacoma Police Department, Parking Enforcement and Road Use Compliance teams. The bulk of calls would likely go to Parking Enforcement.
The city employs seven parking enforcement officers, he said. Revenue generated from zone-enforcement would go to the city’s Parking Enterprise Fund and help cover the cost of providing such services.
The city’s goal with these changes? Keeping residents safe.
“We are really trying to be efficient stewards of the right of way,” Huseby said. “It’s a limited resource, it’s a finite resource, and how you actively manage that is really important — not only from a standpoint of access, but also from safety.”
