[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of the Town of Wallingford 2-14-1995
by Ord. No. 415. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Towing — See Ch. 207.
Abandoned vehicles — See Ch. 214.
A.
Authority to adopt rules, regulations and restrictions.
The Chief of Police as traffic authority (traffic authority) is hereby authorized
and empowered to adopt such rules, regulations and restrictions relative to
the routing of traffic and the parking of vehicles not inconsistent with the
statutes of the State of Connecticut or this section, which in its judgment
may be deemed necessary for the proper regulation and control of vehicular
traffic upon the highways and on town owned or operated property within the
town and for the safety and convenience of the public.
B.
Erection and maintenance of signs. The traffic authority
is further empowered to erect and maintain signs in each highway and on town
owned or operated property for the purposes of traffic and parking regulations,
designating the time or terms of such regulations or restrictions on any highway
or town owned or operated property coming under the jurisdiction of the town
and the traffic authority.
C.
Authority to remove vehicles. The traffic authority is
further authorized and empowered to cause the removal from any highway or
town owned or operated property coming under the jurisdiction of the town
or from state highways, except limited access highways, within the territorial
limits of the town, any abandoned or unregistered motor vehicles and motor
vehicles which are a menace to traffic or public health or safety or improperly
on said property.
A.
CHIEF OF POLICE
PERSON
TOWER
TOWN
Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following
terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meanings given
herein:
The Chief of Police or his appointed designee.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company
or organization of any kind.
A person engaged in the business or offering vehicle towing services
with the type and number of vehicles specified in the regulations adopted
hereunder, and duly licensed by the State of Connecticut, and whose application
has been approved pursuant to this chapter and the rules and regulations adopted
hereunder.
The Town of Wallingford Police Department.
B.
Word usage. When not inconsistent within the context,
words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number
include the singular number and words in the singular number include the plural
number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
B.
There shall be a fifteen-dollar penalty for the following
violations:
(1)
Entrance to a public building.
(2)
Twenty-five feet of corner.
(3)
Twenty-five feet of stop sign.
(4)
Vehicle on sidewalk.
(5)
Parking prohibited.
(6)
Obstructing traffic.
(7)
No standing zone.
(8)
Double parking.
(9)
Street cleaning.
(10)
Town properties.
(11)
Bus stops and taxi stands.
(12)
Trailers parked on streets over 72 hours.
A.
Declaration of special parking restrictions. Whenever
the Chief of Police or his designee finds that either an emergency or special
events make it necessary that parking within the paved portion of the highway
or adjacent thereto be curtailed or the highway closed to all traffic, he
may declare an order to either restrict parking or close the highway. While
the order is in effect, no person shall traverse, travel, park or allow to
remain parked or standing any motor vehicle on or adjacent to any portion
of any highway to which it applies.
B.
Notice of highway closure. Orders pertaining to highway closures for special events shall be publicly announced by publishing notice thereof in a newspaper having general circulation within the town not less than 24 hours prior to the effective date of the restriction, or provide notice of such restriction to be aired on public access cable television and/or local radio station not less than 24 hours prior to the effective date of the restriction. Such notice shall state the dates of the restriction, time (if so limited) and highways covered by the restriction. If it is impractical to publish notice of a special event, notice of the restriction may be made in accordance with Subsection A of this section. In case of an emergency, no such order is required.
C.
Signs. On each street designated by the Police Chief
or his designee as hereinbefore provided, signs shall be posted at reasonable
intervals. Signs posted in accordance with this section shall be plainly visible
and readable to persons traveling on the street or highway. No sign shall
be required in the event of an emergency.
The Chief of Police is authorized to suspend the parking regulations
and prohibit parking temporarily in any area where it is necessary in order
to facilitate the removal of snow or sleet or to prevent the obstruction or
safe flow of traffic in time of heavy snowfall or other severe weather. He
shall give notice of such temporary prohibition and its rescission by radio
and/or local television. In the event of snowfall of five inches or more,
parking on public streets shall be temporarily prohibited until such time
as the prohibition is rescinded by radio and/or local television.
A.
Whenever any vehicle is found parked in violation of
this chapter or of any traffic rule or regulation which relates to parking,
any police officer finding such vehicle shall take its registration number,
and may take any other information displayed on the vehicle which may identify
its user, and shall conspicuously affix to such vehicle notice, in writing,
on a form provided by the Chief of Police, to the owner or operator thereof,
stating that such vehicle has been parked unlawfully, and shall state the
penalty for such violation. Said notice shall state which provision of the
town ordinances or rule and/or regulation of the town traffic authority has
been violated and shall moreover contain the following declaration:
|
"WARNING
| |
|
The accumulation of three or more unsatisfied
| |
|
municipal vehicle parking citations upon any one
| |
|
vehicle may result in the impoundment or
| |
|
immobilization of said vehicle upon the occasion
| |
|
of any subsequent violation of any municipal
| |
|
traffic ordinance, rule or regulation."
|
B.
Each such owner or operator may, within 15 days of the
time of such notice being attached to such vehicle, pay in person or remit
by mail in the form of a check or money order payable to the Town of Wallingford
and delivered or mailed to the Wallingford Police Department as specified
on the ticket, as a penalty for and full satisfaction of such violations,
not to include tow and storage fees, the sum specified on such notice, in
accordance with the penalties set forth in this chapter. Payment in person
shall be made during normal business hours at the Records Department of the
Wallingford Police Department.
C.
The failure of such owner or operator to make payment
to the Town of Wallingford at the Police Department or to timely appeal the
violation within 15 days of the time when such notice is attached to the vehicle
shall render him liable to a penalty equal to twice the amount of the initial
penalty provided. The failure of such owner or operator to make such payment
to the Town of Wallingford at the Police Department within 30 days of the
time when such notice is attached to the vehicle shall render the owner or
operator liable to a penalty equal to three times the amount of the initial
penalty provided.
A.
Wherever any vehicle shall be found parked in violation
of this chapter, rule or regulation, such vehicle may be removed under the
direction of a member of the Police Department by means of towing the vehicle
to a towing garage. Such removal shall be at the risk and expense of the owner.
B.
Whenever any vehicle is found parked in violation of
any municipal traffic ordinance, rule or regulation, and where there are three
or more previously issued municipal parking citations outstanding upon said
vehicle, then a member of the Police Department may place or direct a person
or persons so authorized by the Chief of Police to place an immobilization
device upon said vehicle or, in the alternative, the member of the Police
Department may order a person or persons so authorized by the Chief of Police
to remove said vehicle by means of towing, or otherwise, to a towing garage.
Such removal or immobilization shall be at the risk and expense of the owner.
C.
Once an immobilization device has been placed upon an
unlawfully parked vehicle pursuant to this section, then said device may not
be removed or otherwise tampered with by anyone who has not been authorized
to do so by the Chief of Police. The penalty for unlawfully removing or otherwise
tampering with said device shall be $100.
D.
The owner of any vehicle impounded or immobilized under
this section shall have the right to contest such impoundment or immobilization
by application on a form prescribed by the traffic authority.
E.
The owner of any vehicle impounded or otherwise rendered
immobile by application of a mechanical device shall be duly informed as to
which provisions of this chapter, the city ordinances and/or rules and regulations
of the traffic authority have necessitated the impoundment and/or the immobilization
of said vehicle.
F.
Before the owner of any impounded or immobilized vehicle
shall be permitted to remove the impounded vehicle from such impound, such
person shall provide evidence of his identity and ownership, shall sign a
receipt for such vehicle and shall pay the cost of towing and storage for
each day or portion of a day that such vehicle is stored by the tower in excess
of the first 24 hours.
G.
The Chief of Police shall not authorize and/or direct
the removal of an immobilization device from any vehicle or the release of
any vehicle placed within a pound pursuant to this section until such time
as the owner or person in charge of said vehicle shall have supplied the Chief
of Police with evidence of his identify and ownership; and satisfied all outstanding
municipal parking citations against the subject vehicle to the satisfaction
of the Chief of Police.
H.
It shall be the duty of the Chief of Police, or such
other police officer as he shall designate, to keep a record of the names
of the owners of all vehicles impounded and/or immobilized, the numbers of
their state license plates, the place where each vehicle was impounded or
immobilized, the nature and circumstances of each violation and the disposition
of each case.
Any person whose vehicle is immobilized or impounded because of the
existence of four or more outstanding citations may request an immediate hearing
on the validity of the charges on which the immobilization or impoundment
was based. A hearing shall be convened thereafter by one of the parking violation
hearing officers as soon as practicable. The procedure for the hearing shall
be informal as to the rules of evidence, but testimony shall be taken under
oath or affirmation. In considering the charges, the hearing officer may consider
all relevant facts and circumstances and may require the personal appearance
of the person requesting the hearing and the issuing officer. Should the hearing
officer find in favor of the person charged, he shall so certify to the town,
and the record of charge or charges shall be removed from the files of the
town and the vehicle released to the owner. Should the hearing officer find
the issuance of the charge or charges proper, he shall so certify to the town,
and no further appeal for a hearing shall be considered. The hearing officer
shall determine the amount due the town for the cost of immobilization or
impoundment and the amount due for citations outstanding. The owner may regain
possession by paying the amount found due by the hearing officer and establishing
his identity and right to possession and upon signing a proper receipt for
the vehicle. If not paid on the same day, the owner shall also pay all charges
due for storage of the vehicle.
The Chief of Police or his designee may void a parking ticket in the
following circumstances:
A.
Ticket is on its face improper in that it is incomplete
or contains obvious errors;
B.
Tickets issued to the blind, handicapped or veterans,
pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes Section 14-253a, Section 14-254 and
Section 14-290, respectively.
C.
Tickets issued to official police, fire and any vehicles
exempt by statutes (marked or unmarked).
In any hearing charging a violation of any law or regulation governing the standing or parking of a vehicle, proof that the particular vehicle described in the complaint was parked in violation of any law or regulation described in § 216-3, together with proof that the defendant named in the complaint was at the time of such parking the registered owner of such vehicle, shall constitute in evidence a prima facie presumption that the registered owner of such vehicle was the person who parked or placed the vehicle at the point where, and for the time during which, such violation occurred. If the vehicle is unregistered, it is presumed that the last registered owner is the present owner of said vehicle.
A.
Any person or owner of a vehicle cited for a violation
of this chapter, rule or regulation of the town pertaining to parking may
request, in writing, on a form prescribed by the Chief of Police, a formal
hearing before a parking violations hearing officer(s) within 15 days of issuance
of a parking violation citation.
B.
The Mayor shall appoint parking violation hearing officer(s)
other than policemen, persons working in the Police Department or persons
authorized to issue tickets. Such officer(s) shall serve for a term of two
years from the effective date of appointment.
C.
The hearing officer(s) shall be empowered to hear appeals
from the issuance of parking violation citations and take such other actions
in processing parking violations as authorized by the state statutes and town
ordinances and regulations.
D.
Procedure.
(1)
In scheduling formal appeal hearings, the appellant shall
be notified by mail of the place and time of the hearing. Such notice shall
be provided at least 15 days, but not more than 30 days, prior to the scheduled
hearing date.
(2)
The procedure for the hearing shall be informal as to
the rules of evidence, but testimony shall be taken under oath or affirmation.
(3)
The provisions of this section shall be construed in
accordance with the provisions of applicable state statutes and town ordinances.
(4)
In considering an appeal, the hearing officer(s) may
consider all relevant facts and circumstances and may require personal appearance
of the appellant and issuing officer.
(5)
Should the hearing officer(s) find in favor of the appellant,
he shall so certify to the town, and the record of the citation shall be removed
from the files of the town.
(6)
Should the hearing officer(s) find the issuance of the
creation proper, he shall so certify to the town and inform the appellant
of the applicable fine.
(7)
If such violation is not paid on the date of the judgment
of the hearing officer(s), the town shall send by first-class mail a notice
of the penalty assessment to the person found liable and shall file, not less
than 30 days nor more than 12 months after such mailing, a certified copy
of the notice of penalty assessment with the Clerk of the Superior Court for
the geographical area in which the town is located, together with an entry
fee as required by statute. The certified copy of the notice of penalty assessment
shall constitute a record of assessment. Within such twelve-month period,
assessments against the same person may be accrued and filed as one record
of assessment. The Clerk shall enter judgment in the amount of such record
of assessment and court costs against such person in favor of the town. Notwithstanding
any other provision of the general statutes, the hearing officer's assessment,
when so entered as a judgment, shall have the effect of a civil money judgment,
and a levy of execution on such judgment may issue without further notice
to such person.
(8)
A person for whom an assessment has been entered pursuant
to this section is entitled to judicial review by way of appeal. An appeal
may be instituted as provided by statute within 30 days of the mailing of
notice of such assessment. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as
a limitation on the power of the Superior Court to impose a fine in accordance
with the ordinances of the town for violations thereof.
