According to Manassas Park City Manager Laszlo Palko, just over $1,000 worth of tickets is being voided and refunded to city residents.
- The refunds come after some were ticketed after confusion occurred over changes to the city’s latest parking ordinances.
- Drivers at older homes with limited parking spaces were being ticketed for parking in angled/perpendicular spaces in front of their homes instead of parking their cars parallel to the curb.
- Palko said that these residents should have been warned instead of ticketed.
- “We should have issued only warning citations in these cul-de-sacs until we had time to engage with the community to find out what was going on and to brief the Governing Body on the issue to see if some legislative alternative was needed,” Palko said.
Why it matters: This ticket refund also comes at a time when the city is in some serious debt.
- The city’s annual debt service is roughly $10.5 million.
The parallel parking rule in the city is to ensure that emergency vehicles can get to residents in times of emergencies.
- But according to Palko, several 1950’s era homes built in cul-de-sac’s on the western side of the city have an unfair disadvantage, as they don’t have driveways.
About mid-September, residents began to complain about the tickets.
According to city documents, “The City Manager and Police Chief evaluated the situation and determined that in hindsight, determining that in some cul-de-sacs residents lack parking options, the City should have: provided public messaging about the law, engaged with residents of cul-de-sacs to determine why they were violating the law, and issued warning citations; all prior to issuing full citations.”
Manassas Park shifted to warning tickets on September 23.
- On October 1, a moratorium was placed on parking tickets for several of these neighborhoods.
- The moratorium “provides City Staff with time to evaluate options for the Governing Body to consider at a future date. We also voided and refunded tickets that were issued related to this issue.” Palko explained.
From April 1 – August 1, there were 1,484 parking violations issued in Manassas Park.
