The City of Pittston finds that certain residential areas in the City of Pittston are subjected to commuter vehicle parking, therefore depriving the residents of those areas of spaces in which to park their own vehicles; those residential streets are also subjected to a high degree of commuter traffic which substantially reduces the quality of the ambient air level; and the establishment of a parking permit program for certain affected areas should facilitate efficient movement of traffic by providing for parking preference during certain hours of the day and days of the week. Therefore, the City of Pittston considers it to be in the interest of the people of the City of Pittston to provide for the establishment of a residential permit parking program to insure primary access to available parking spaces by neighborhood residents and also to provide a cleaner ambient air level.
For the purpose of this article, words and terms listed in this section, as follows, shall have the following meanings:
COMMUTER VEHICLE
A motor vehicle parked in a residential area by a person not a resident of that residential area.
PROPRIETOR
A person who owns or leases real estate within the residential area of which he is not a resident, but who owns or manages a business enterprise or professional office maintained at that address; for the purpose of this article, a proprietor shall be entitled to one parking permit for that business or professional office address.
RESIDENT
A person who owns or leases real property within the residential area and who maintains either a voting residence or bona fide occupancy, or both, at that address; a resident shall be entitled to one parking permit for that household, regardless of how many vehicles or drivers are registered to that household address.
RESIDENTIAL AREA
A contiguous area containing public highways or parts of public highways primarily abutted by residential property or residential and nonbusiness property (such as schools, parks, places of worship, hospitals and nursing homes).
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 455-39, Criteria for designating residential permit parking areas, was repealed 5-15-2024 by Ord. No. 5-2024.
A. 
The following are designated as residential parking areas:
Area
Bounded By and Not Including
East Street
[Added 5-15-2024 by Ord. No. 5-2024]
Kennedy Boulevard and Johnson Street
Elizabeth Street
[Added 5-15-2024 by Ord. No. 5-2024]
East Street and West Columbus Avenue
High Street
[Added 5-15-2024 by Ord. No. 5-2024]
East Street and West Columbus Avenue
Johnson Street
[Added 5-15-2024 by Ord. No. 5-2024]
East Street and West Columbus Avenue
Kennedy Street (entire length) (west side of street only)
Spring Street and Charles Street
B. 
Signs shall be erected along the streets in each residential permit parking area, indicating the days, hours and locations and conditions under which parking shall be by permit only.
[Amended 5-15-2024 by Ord. No. 5-2024]
Application for a residential parking permit shall be made to the Treasurer's/Tax Collector's Office by the person desiring the permit, who shall be only the owner or the driver of the motor vehicle who resides on or is a proprietor of property immediately adjacent to a street or other location within a residential parking permit area. Each application shall contain the following information: the name of the owner or the driver, as the case may be, of the motor vehicle; the address of the resident or the proprietor, as the case may be; the make, model and registration number of the motor vehicle; and the driver number as taken from the applicant's current driver's license. At the discretion of the Treasurer's/Tax Collector's Office, the applicant shall be required, at the time of making application, to present his driver's license and the vehicle registration card. Each individual resident who resides in the area shall be entitled to one free permit. Additional permits for qualifying individuals/owners shall be able to obtain one additional permit for $25 annually.
[Amended 5-15-2024 by Ord. No. 5-2024]
Upon receipt of the application and determination that the information upon the application shows that the applicant is entitled to a residential parking permit, the Treasurer's/Tax Collector's Office shall issue to the applicant a residential parking permit, which shall be valid for the remainder of the calendar year. The permit shall be renewable annually upon making application for renewal. It shall be unlawful and a violation of this article for any person to display other than the current and valid permit while standing or parking in a residential permit parking area at the time when those permits are to be displayed.
[Amended 5-15-2024 by Ord. No. 5-2024]
Temporary parking permits may be issued by the Treasurer's/Tax Collector's Office to bona fide visitors of residents of a designated residential permit parking area, and exemption parking permits may be issued, without payment of a fee, to handicapped persons.
A. 
Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary, the holder of a residential parking permit shall be permitted to stand or park a motor vehicle operated by him in any designated residential parking area during those times when parking of motor vehicles is permitted in that area. While a vehicle for which a residential parking permit has been issued is so parked, that permit shall be displayed so as to be clearly visible through the windshield of the vehicle. A residential parking permit shall not guarantee or reserve to the holder a parking space within a designated residential permit parking area.
B. 
A residential parking permit shall not authorize its holder to stand or park a motor vehicle in any place where or at any time when stopping, standing or parking of motor vehicles is prohibited or set aside for other specified types of vehicles, nor shall the permit exempt its holder from the observance of any traffic or parking regulation other than a residential permit parking regulation or restriction.
C. 
No person other than the permit holder whose name appears on the permit shall use a residential parking permit or display it on a vehicle operated; any such use or display by a person other than the permit holder shall constitute a violation of this article by the permit holder and by the person who so used or displayed the parking permit.
D. 
It shall constitute a violation of this article for any person falsely to represent himself as eligible for a residential parking permit or to furnish false information in an application to the Chief of Police in order to obtain a residential parking permit.
[Amended 5-15-2024 by Ord. No. 5-2024]
The Treasurer's/Tax Collector's Office shall have authority to revoke the residential parking permit of any permit holder found to be in violation of any provision of this article. Upon written notification to him of the revocation, the permit holder shall surrender the permit to the Treasurer's/Tax Collector's Office. Failure to do so, when so requested, shall constitute a violation of this article, provided that any person receiving such a notice may, within 10 days after the date of the notice, appeal to Pittston City Council for a hearing on the revocation, and the decision of the Pittston City Council shall be final.
Any person who violates any provision of this article shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $25 and costs; provided, however, that it shall be the duty of the police officers and of parking enforcement personnel of the City of Pittston to report to the appropriate official all violations of any provision of this article, indicating, in each case, the section violated, the license number of the vehicle involved in the violation, the location where the violation took place, and any other facts that might be necessary in order to secure a clear understanding of the circumstances attending the violation. The police officer or other person making the report shall also attach to or place upon every such vehicle a notice stating that the vehicle was parked in violation of this article. The notice shall contain instructions to the owner or driver of the vehicle that if he will report to the office of the Chief of Police and pay the sum of $25 within 72 hours after the time of the notice, or if he will place the sum of $25, enclosed within the envelope provided, in any of the special fine boxes installed at various locations within the City of Pittston, that act will save the violator from prosecution and from payment of the fine and costs prescribed in the first sentence of this section.