Lock Haven Issues Reminder on Overnight Street Sweeping and Illegal Parking
LOCK HAVEN – City Manager Greg Wilson has issued an update on city ordinances relative to parking during the coronavirus pandemic. Wilson, in a release to the media, said city council has not moved to suspend any city ordinances, including parking regulations. In his release, the city manager said active enforcement of parking prohibitions will resume on April 19.
The complete release:
In its guidance issued March 28, 2020, the US Department of Homeland Security included as essential critical infrastructure workers those involved in “Public Works and Infrastructure Support Services” to include road cleaning. This enables the city to recall an employee from furlough to continue this city service of street sweeping, not only because it is an essential service under federal and state law, but because the employee is able to work independently, limiting the opportunity for exposure to COVID-19. Street cleaning is important to the city’s residents and business owners in order to limit the amount of debris that enters the underground stormwater system, helping to ensure that during heavy rain events, stormwater doesn’t backup on city streets to the detriment of vehicle traffic.
City Council has not acted to suspend any ordinance in the city, including Chapter 380-30 which prohibits parking during certain hours. “No parking” is always “no parking,” not just when the police drive by. During this season, “no parking” on certain nights is for the benefit of sweeping the streets. During the day, residents and visitors should still be following all other on-street parking restrictions, including Chapter 380 Article V guiding On-Street Parking and time-limit restrictions.
Many downtown parking lot permits are purchased by residents who live above downtown businesses. For those who are unable to renew a parking lot permit because of the closure of City Hall, officers will not be issuing tickets for expired parking permits. So, individuals with a permit should continue to follow the directions on the city’s website and display their currently expired permit and park in the designated areas in the proper lot.
Unfortunately, people have not been following these directions and instead have chosen to park on-street in front of buildings blocking essential critical maintenance activity and, in some cases, blocking on-street customer access for days to local businesses and restaurants that are still able to meet the needs of drive-up/pick-up business to subsidize their operations during this State of Emergency. That means that active enforcement must once again take place and will start April 19, 2020.
The best way to avoid a parking ticket is always to park according to the law. All city ordinances as well as directions on parking downtown are available on the city’s website (www.lockhavenpa.gov), and all state parking laws that are enforced by the city can be found online by searching for “PA Title 75” in an online search engine like Bing or Google.
