The City Council, in addition to the corporate powers heretofore
granted, is hereby authorized and empowered to acquire land and property
of every kind, including property used or held for public or quasi-public
purposes, by purchase, lease, gift, devise, condemnation or any other
legal means for use and operation by the City as single- or multiple-deck
off-street parking facilities for the storage and parking of vehicles
and, in connection therewith, to raze existing buildings on any property
so acquired and to improve, maintain and operate any such property
and construct facilities thereon for the parking of automobiles or
other vehicles by the general public and to install meters thereon
and to make such rules and regulations governing such parking and
the conduct of such parking lots, including the making, fixing and
collection of charges for the use of the same, as the City Council
may, by ordinance, decide. For the purpose of exercising the powers
herein conferred, the City Council is authorized to proceed to acquire
land and property of every kind required for any project covered by
the provisions hereof, including property used or held for public
or quasi-public purposes, by condemnation whenever it cannot agree
with the owner thereof for the purchase of the same, and such condemnation
proceedings shall be conducted in the manner provided by the Annotated
Code of Maryland entitled "Eminent Domain," and all the rights, powers
and privileges conferred by said statute shall be deemed applicable
to and vested in the City Council. No such land or property taken
by the City by condemnation for any of the aforesaid purposes shall
be taken without just compensation, as agreed upon between the parties
or awarded by a jury, being first paid or tendered to the party entitled
to such compensation. All land or property needed or taken by the
exercise of the power of eminent domain by the City Council for any
of the aforementioned purposes is hereby declared to be needed or
taken for a public use. Any property so operated as an off-street
parking facility shall be public property, and the City may provide,
by ordinance for the operation of said off-street parking facility
and may enforce all such ordinances through the established Police
Department of said city.
[Amended 11-16-1981 by
HR No. 10-81]
The City Council is hereby authorized to fix and to revise,
from time to time, rates, rentals or charges for the use of its off-street
parking facilities and to charge and collect the same and to contract
with any person, partnership, association or corporation desiring
the use of any facility or facilities provided under this Article
and to fix the terms, conditions and rates of charges for such use.
Whenever there are any bonds or certificates of indebtedness outstanding,
all funds collected from the operation of the off-street parking facilities
provided for in this Article must be deposited in the Parking Meter
Fund account, to be used only for the purpose of paying the costs
of the acquisition, planning, construction, operation and maintenance
of the off-street parking facilities and payment, when due, of the
interest and principal of all bonds and/or certificates of indebtedness
maturing in each such fiscal year issued under the provisions of this
Article.
In the event that the funds collected from the operation of
the off-street parking facilities in any fiscal year shall prove insufficient
for the purposes set forth in Section C10-2 of this Charter, then
and in that event only the City Council in the succeeding fiscal year
is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to levy and cause to
be collected a special tax in the nature of an ad valorem tax in an
amount at a rate sufficient to make up any such deficiency. The ad
valorem tax rate as determined shall be levied upon the assessed value
of all real estate, including both the value of improvements and the
value of the land which is zoned and/or used for commercial, industrial
or general business use within the corporate limits of the City.
The special taxes hereinabove authorized, if levied, shall be
collected and have the same priority rights, bear the same interest
and penalties as the City taxes and shall constitute a lien upon all
property assessed; provided, however, that before any assessment is
levied hereunder, notice, in writing, of the proposed assessment shall
be sent to all owners of property against which the assessment is
proposed to be levied, naming in said notice a time and place when
and at which said owners will be heard. Said notice must be mailed
seven (7) days before the date set for the hearing and will be sufficient
if addressed to the owner at the address as it appears on the tax
records of the City. Any person aggrieved by the action of the City
Council in making such levy shall have the right to appeal to the
Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Maryland, provided that
such appeal is taken within thirty (30) days next succeeding the day
on which said levy is made.