ARTICLE IX
PARKING REGULATIONS
12-9-1 Authority to Establish Parking Meter Zones
12-9-2 Installation of Parking Meters
12-9-6 Use of Slugs Prohibited
12-9-8 Presumption of Unlawful Parking
12-9-9 Parking in Designated Disabled Parking Spaces
12-9-10 Parking Lots – Standards
12-9-1 AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH PARKING METER ZONES.
A. The administrator may establish parking meter zones in which the parking of vehicles upon streets or parts of streets shall be regulated by parking meters between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. of any day except Sunday and public holidays.
B. The administrator may limit the period of time for which parking is lawfully permitted in any parking meter zone in which meters are located regardless of the number of coins deposited in a meter.
C. The parking meter zone may be diminished or extended and enlarged, or other parking meter zones may be created.(*)
12-9-2 INSTALLATION OF PARKING METERS.
A. The administrator shall install parking meters in established parking meter zones.
B. Parking meters shall be placed on the curb immediately adjacent to each designated parking space.
C. Parking meters shall be capable of being operated, either automatically or mechanically, upon the deposit therein of a twenty-five cent coin, ten-cent coin, five-cent coin or one penny coin of United States currency as provided in this ordinance.
D. Each parking meter shall be designed, constructed, installed and set so that an appropriate signal will indicate expiration of the lawful parking meter period which was registered by the deposit of one or more coins as provided herein.
E. During the lawful parking meter period registered by the deposit of a coin or coins and prior to the expiration of the lawful parking meter period, the meter shall indicate the interval of time which remains of such period.
F. Each parking meter shall bear a legend indicating the days and hours when the requirement to deposit coins shall apply, the value of the coins to be deposited and the limited period of time for which parking is lawfully permitted in the parking meter zone in which such meter is located.(*)
12-9-3 PARKING METER SPACES.
A. The administrator shall designate the parking space adjacent to each parking meter for which the meter is to be used by appropriate markings upon the curb or the pavement of the street or both.
B. Designated parking meter spaces shall be of appropriate length and width so as to be accessible from the traffic lanes of the street.
C. No person shall park a vehicle in any designated parking meter space during the restricted or regulated time applicable to the parking meter zone in which the meter is located so that any part of the vehicle occupies more than one space or protrudes beyond the markings designating the space. However, a vehicle which is of a size too large to be parked within a single designated parking meter zone shall be permitted to occupy two adjoining parking meter spaces when coins of the appropriate denominations have been deposited in the parking meter for each space so occupied.(*)
12-9-4 PARKING TIME LIMITS.
Parking or standing a vehicle in a designated space in parking meter zones shall be lawful upon the deposit of legal coins as indicated on each parking meter.(*)
12-9-5 DEPOSIT OF COINS.
A. No person shall park a vehicle in any parking space regulated by a parking meter between the hours 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on any day except Sundays and public holidays unless a coin or coins of the appropriate denomination as provided in this ordinance have been deposited therein and the meter has been placed in operation.
B. No person shall permit a vehicle within his control to be parked in any space regulated by a parking meter between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on any day except Sundays and public holidays while the parking meter for the space indicates by signal that the lawful parking time in the space has expired. This provision does not apply to the act of parking or the necessary time which is required to deposit immediately thereafter a coin or coins in the meter.
C. No person shall park a vehicle in any parking meter space for a consecutive period of time longer than the limited period of time for which parking is lawfully permitted in the parking meter zone in which the meter is located, irrespective of the number or amounts of coins deposited in the meter.
D. Failure to deposit proper coin or coins constitutes a violation of this ordinance.
E. Upon expiration of the legal parking time, it is the duty of the owner or driver of the vehicle to remove the vehicle from the parking space.
F. It is unlawful for any person to cause, allow, permit or suffer a vehicle registered in his name to be parked or to stand overtime or remain in the parking space beyond the specified parking time limit.
G. The provisions of this section shall not apply in a period of emergency determined by an officer of the fire department or the police department or in compliance with the directions of a police officer or traffic-control device.
H. The provisions of this section shall not relieve any person from the duty to observe other and more restrictive provisions of this ordinance prohibiting or limiting the stopping, standing or parking of vehicles in specified places or at specified times.(*)
12-9-6 USE OF SLUGS PROHIBITED.
No person shall deposit or attempt to deposit in any parking meter any slug, button or any other device or substance as substitutes for coins of United States currency.(*)
12-9-7 TAMPERING WITH METER.
No person shall deface, injure, tamper with, open or willfully break, destroy or impair the usefulness of any parking meter.(*)
12-9-8 PRESUMPTION OF UNLAWFUL PARKING.
A. When the “violation” indicator is showing on a parking meter to indicate the expiration of the lawful parking meter period for which coins have been deposited, it shall be presumptive evidence that any vehicle found in a regulated parking space is parked in violation.
B. It is unlawful and an offense for any person to deposit or cause to be deposited in a parking meter covering a metered parking stall which he has already occupied for the meter specified time limit any coins for the purpose of extending parking time beyond the total lawful parking period designated for the parking meter zone in which the meter is located.(*)
12-9-9 PARKING IN DESIGNATED DISABLED PARKING SPACES.
Amended July, 2007
A. It is unlawful for any person to park a motor vehicle not carrying registration plates or a placard indicating disability in accordance with Section 66-3-16 NMSA 1978 in a designated accessible parking space for persons with significant mobility limitation or in such a manner as to block access to any part of a curb cut designed for access by persons with significant mobility limitations. Failure to properly display a parking placard or special registration plate issued pursuant to Section 66-3-16 NMSA 1978 is not a defense against a charge of violation of subsection (A) of this section. (66-7-352.5 NMSA 1978)
B. As used in this section, “designated disabled parking space” means any space, including an access aisle, marked and reserved for the parking of a passenger vehicle that carries registration plates or a parking placard indicating disability in accordance with Section 66-3-16 NMSA 1978, and designated by a conspicuously posted sign bearing the international disabled symbol of a wheelchair and if paved, by a clearly visible depiction of this symbol painted in blue on the pavement of the space. “Curb cut” means a short ramp through a curb or built up to the curb designed for access by the handicapped.
C. A vehicle parked in violation of Subsection A of this section is subject to being towed at the expense of the vehicle owner upon authorization by law enforcement personnel or by the property owner or manager of a parking lot. (66-1-4.4E and 66-7-352.5 NMSA 1978).
D. State, county and municipal law enforcement personnel may issue citations for violations of §12-9-9 in their respective jurisdictions, whether the violation occurs on public property or private property. (*)
E. Parking enforcement personnel of each of the state educational institutions designated in Article 12, Section 11 of the Constitution of New Mexico may issue citations for violations of Subsection A of this section within the exterior boundaries of lands under the control of their respective institutions, except portions of those lands that are public highways or streets. (66-7-352.6 NMSA 1987).
(Am. Ord. 10-23)
12-9-10 PARKING LOTS – STANDARDS.
A. Every parking lot coming under the provisions of the Disabled Parking Standards and Enforcement Act [66-7-352.1 to 66-7-352.5 NMSA 1978] shall have designated disabled parking spaces as provided in subsection B of this section; provided that an office of state or local government shall have a minimum of one such parking space. No building permit shall be issued by this city for the construction or substantial renovation of a commercial building, inviting public access, unless the parking lot has designated disabled parking spaces as delineated in the following subsection.
B. The minimum numbers of designated parking spaces are as designated in the Chapter on Planning and Zoning within the City Code.
(Ord. 03-015; Am. Ord. 05-19)