[Added 7-21-1991 by L.L. No. 12-1991; amended 6-19-1998 by L.L. No. 22-1998]
The title of this article shall be "Volunteer
Program for Handicapped Parking Enforcement."
The New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law provides
for the designation of handicapped parking spaces by municipalities.
Penalties imposed under the Vehicle and Traffic Law for illegal parking
in handicapped spaces are made subject to provisions of legislation.
The purpose of this article is to impose more stringent fines for
such illegal parking and to utilize revenues and programs derived
from such fines to improve handicapped facilities within the Town
and Village of East Hampton. To assist in the enforcement of handicapped
parking regulations, this article (via § 1203-f of the New
York State Vehicle and Traffic Law) creates a volunteer program for
handicapped parking enforcement in which volunteers work in conjunction
with the East Hampton Town Police Department and the East Hampton
Village Police Department to assist in the enforcement of handicapped
parking legislation.
A.
The East Hampton Town Police Department, in conjunction with the East Hampton Village Police Department, is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to establish the Volunteer Program for Handicapped Parking (the "program"). The program shall utilize volunteers to survey East Hampton Town and East Hampton Village public roads and public parking lots with cameras for the purpose of photographing automobiles parking in violation of §§ 1203-b and 1203-c of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law. The program shall utilize volunteers to survey private parking areas, driveways, streets and roadways that have been designated for such regulatory enforcement pursuant to Article XI of this chapter.
B.
The program shall include but not be limited to the
following procedures and equipment:
(1)
The East Hampton Town Police Department, in conjunction
with the East Hampton Village Police Department, shall develop, publish
and administer a training program of not less than three hours in
duration which all prospective program volunteers must complete prior
to their active participation in the program.
(2)
The East Hampton Town Police, in conjunction with
the East Hampton Village Police Department, shall establish, administer
and publish a uniform procedure which all program participants shall
follow in determining whether a violation has in fact occurred.
(3)
Each volunteer shall be assigned an identification
number and shall be issued an identification card with the volunteer's
photo, name and identification number affixed thereto.
(4)
Each volunteer shall be required to wear an identification
badge when engaging in program activities. Each volunteer shall be
issued his or her own badge, and a list of volunteers with their corresponding
identification badge numbers shall be maintained jointly by the East
Hampton Town Police and East Hampton Village Police Departments.
(5)
Schedules shall be developed to allow for the placement
of volunteers in various areas of the Town on different days on a
rotating basis so as to not leave any area of the Town unpatrolled
or duplicated.
(6)
All volunteers, upon determining that a violation
has occurred, shall complete a detailed complaint form for each such
violation, noting the location (town/village) of the violation, and
shall turn over all said complaint forms to the appropriate enforcement
authority. These forms shall be considered complete when they include
the following information/materials:
(a)
At least one photo depicting the scene of the violation, said photo to be developed in accordance with Subsection B(7)(b) of this article, and depicting the vehicle in question, the vehicle's license plate number, the handicapped parking sign and the blue striping designating the space as a reserved handicapped parking space.
(b)
A written description of the following:
[1]
The vehicle's license plate number.
[2]
The vehicle's registration expiration date.
[3]
The vehicle year.
[4]
The make of the vehicle.
[5]
The color of the vehicle.
[6]
The date of the alleged violation.
[7]
The time of the alleged violation.
[8]
The location of the alleged violation.
[9]
The assigned identification number of the reporting
volunteer.
(7)
Cameras and polaroid-type film shall be provided to
the volunteers by the Town of East Hampton/Village of East Hampton,
and all photos taken pursuant to the program shall meet the following
criteria:
(a)
All photos must show the vehicle in question,
its license plate, the handicapped parking sign and the blue striping
designating the space in question as reserved for handicapped parking.
(b)
The Town Police Department shall have sole authority
to process or contract for the processing of all film submitted by
program volunteers which relates to violation of this section occurring
within the Town of East Hampton. The same authority shall be granted
the East Hampton Village Police Department in the case of violations
which occur within the Village of East Hampton.
(c)
All photos taken pursuant to this program shall
be made available for inspection by the defendant in any proceeding
to adjudicate liability for a violation brought under this article.
(d)
As a required accompaniment to all photos submitted
under the program, the Town Police Department or, in the case of a
violation occurring in East Hampton Village, the Village Police shall
provide, as prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein, a
certificate sworn or affirmed by a technician employed by the Town/village
containing a description of that which is depicted in said photos.
Said description is to be based upon the technician's inspection of
the photos produced from film submitted by program volunteers.
(e)
All volunteer photos submitted shall be used
solely as evidence of a handicapped parking violation and for no other
purpose.
(8)
The program shall also include a procedure by which,
depending upon the location of the violation, the East Hampton Town
Police Department or the East Hampton Village Police Department may
be requested and empowered to undertake the following tasks:
(a)
Prepare the necessary deposition for signature
by the volunteer who actually witnessed the violation.
(b)
Administer the necessary oath for verification.
(c)
Prepare the necessary information for presentation
to the East Hampton Justice Court.
(d)
Forward all pertinent documents to said Justice
Court.
(e)
Arrange to send by first-class mail, return
receipt requested, to each person alleged to be liable as a vehicle
owner, a cover letter explaining the program and an appearance ticket/information
which shall reference the law allegedly violated and which shall contain
the name and address of the person alleged to be liable, the registration
number of the vehicle involved, the location where the alleged violation
occurred, the date and time of said violation and the identification
number of the volunteer who recorded the violation.
[Amended 10-15-1999 by L.L. No. 25-1999]
(f)
Said notice of violation/appearance ticket shall
also contain information advising the person charged to be liable
as an owner, of the manner, time and place in/at which he/she may
contest the violation alleged in the notice and shall advise the person(s)
charged that failure to contest the violation in the proper manner
and within the proper time shall be deemed an admission of liability
and that a default judgment may be entered against thereon.
[Amended 10-15-1999 by L.L. No. 25-1999]
C.
Program volunteers shall also canvass the Town for
the purpose of determining if any person, firm or corporation owning
a shopping center or facility with at least five separate retail stores
and at least 20 off-street parking spaces provided for use by the
shopping public has failed to provide spaces only for the handicapped
and to clearly mark the spaces for use by the handicapped in accordance
with § 1203-c of the Vehicle and Traffic Law. Alleged violations
shall be referred to the East Hampton Town Attorney's office or the
East Hampton Village Attorney's office.
D.
The East Hampton Town Attorney's office and the East
Hampton Village Attorney's office, in conjunction and consultation
with the East Hampton Town Police Department and/or the East Hampton
Village Police Department, is hereby authorized and empowered to promulgate
and issue such rules and regulations as are deemed necessary and sufficient
to implement this program.
This article shall be enforced by those public
officials charged with the duty of enforcing the New York State Vehicle
and Traffic Law.
In order to provide adequate notice of the pertinent
governing code section and penalties imposed by the program, and as
a condition of the implementation of the program, the East Hampton
Town Police and the East Hampton Village Police, in conjunction with
the East Hampton Town Highway Department and the East Hampton Village
Highway Department, shall ensure that all handicapped parking signage
shall be upgraded to include signage listing both the code section(s)
imposing the fines contained herein and the dollar amount(s) of those
fines.
A.
The New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law sets forth
the requirements that must be met if a vehicle is to park legally
in any area designated as a place of handicapped parking. Said vehicle
must display one of the following:
(1)
A special municipal parking permit issued to handicapped
drivers (as defined in § 1203-a of the Vehicle and Traffic
Law and distributed by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles to local
governing bodies to be issued to handicapped persons who reside in
such localities).
(2)
A special motor vehicle registration and one set of
disabled person vehicle identification plates (as defined in § 404-a
of the Vehicle and Traffic Law and distributed by the Commissioner
of Motor Vehicles to handicapped persons and to noncommercial vans
used to transport handicapped persons).
B.
In establishing penalties for illegal parking in handicapped spaces, the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law distinguishes among vehicles parking in off-street parking spaces provided by a shopping center or facility with at least five separate retail stores and 20 off-street parking spaces (see § 1203-c of the Vehicle and Traffic Law); vehicles stopped, standing or parking on public streets in designated handicapped parking spaces (see § 1203-b of the Vehicle and Traffic Law); and vehicles stopped, standing or parked on certain private streets, roadways, driveways and/or parking lots that are subject to regulation following enactment of local legislation (see § 1660-a of the Vehicle and Traffic Law and Chapter 240, Article XI, of the East Hampton Town Code).
(1)
Off-street handicapped parking spaces. Section 1203-c
of the Vehicle and Traffic Law sets forth the fines that can be imposed
against a person convicted of illegally parking in a handicapped parking
space. Said § 1203-c further provides that a Town may, by
local law, impose a larger maximum fine.
(2)
Handicapped parking spaces on public streets and on
certain private areas designated by local law. Section 1800 of the
Vehicle and Traffic Law provides the amount of fines and the length
of imprisonment that can be imposed against a person convicted of
illegally parking in a handicapped parking space. Said § 1800
further provides that a Town may prescribe additional fines by local
law.
Any person who parks in a space clearly marked
for use by the handicapped without a special municipal parking permit
or whose vehicle lacks a special motor vehicle registration and one
set of disabled person vehicle identification plates and whose vehicle
is not being used for the transportation of a handicapped person shall
be subject to a program fine of $250 for the first offense and $350
for any subsequent offense committed within 18 months within the same
municipality.
The proceeds of the program fines collected
pursuant to this article shall be placed in a reserve fund as provided
for in Article 2 of New York State General Municipal Law and shall
be used for the sole purpose(s) of enhancing handicapped facilities
and programs in the Town and Village of East Hampton and, additionally,
to reimburse both the Town and village for training, maintenance and
administrative costs related to implementation of this program.
The provisions of this law are declared to be
severable. If any section, sentence, clause or phrase thereof shall
for any reason be held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision
shall not affect the validity of the remaining sections, sentences,
clauses or phrases of this law, but they shall remain in effect, it
being the legislative intent that this law shall stand notwithstanding
the invalidity of any part.
