Encinitas plans to hire private company to handle parking enforcement

Encinitas will rework its bylaws to allow a private company to handle the city’s parking enforcement duties, including writing tickets, the city council unanimously decided.

They were quick to point out that their vote was just the first step. The proposal will need to be returned to the board for a second vote, and any proposed contract with a private company will also require board approval at a later stage.

Council member Joe Mosca, who represents the Far East region of the city, has repeatedly said he is willing to support the changes as the plan is to only use the additional app in the city center coastal town and along the rail corridor – two areas where lack of parking has been a perennial complaint. Other parts of the city don’t have the same issues as the coastal beach area, Mosca said, adding that he doesn’t want it to become “a slippery slope where we start using this (business) in all parts of our city.”

However, other board members said they might be willing to consider other areas for additional application. Council member Tony Kranz said the area near the railway had been the subject of ‘countless complaints’ over parking issues, while council member Joy Lyndes said she would like to see the scheme proposed scope include Cardiff area.

Downtown business owners and the area’s Main Street Association have called on the city to step up enforcement of parking regulations, particularly time limits on parking spots, to free up space for customers, said Patrick Piatt, the city’s senior management analyst. One way to do this would be to hire an independent company, but the current city code only allows law enforcement officers and city employees to enforce bylaws and issue citations for violations, where the recommendation to change the city code, he said.

Coastal business owners aren’t the only ones in favor of greater enforcement, local resident Tim Bratton said, showing the council numerous photos of illegally parked vehicles that blocked his driveway. . People are in such a rush to get to the beach that they will park anywhere, he said, adding that he is called to the sheriff’s department so often enforcing tickets that he overwhelmed MPs and they told him they don’t. no longer want to write.

In another action at the March 23 council meeting, council unanimously agreed to eliminate a proposed roundabout from the next phase of the Leucadia Streetscape project and approved a new five-year contract with the department. from the San Diego County Sheriff, which provides police services. for the city.

The Streetscape project includes the redesign of a 2.5-mile stretch of the Coastal Highway from A Street to La Costa Avenue. The first part of the work between Marcheta and Basil streets is currently underway and should be completed in May.

The next phase, which includes improvements from Jupiter Street to Moorgate Road, was to include three roundabouts, but negotiations with private owners to secure some of the land needed for one of the roundabouts – the Bishop’s Gate Road – were unsuccessful. . In order to proceed with the construction in a timely manner, City employees recommended that construction of the roundabout be postponed and that the roadway plans be redesigned to reflect this change. Council members agreed to spend $100,000 on the redesign work.

No changes to city police departments are proposed in the sheriff’s department’s newly approved five-year contract. It provides for an increase of $172,662, or 1% more, for the first year of the contract. Year two of the contract includes another 1% increase, while years three through five contain increases of 3.5%.