San Luis Obispo Municipal Code Ch. 10.52 Parking Meters and Parking Payment Centers

A. Within the area enclosed by a solid line on the parking rate zones map (Exhibit A of this section) the parking of vehicles on streets or in municipal parking lots may be controlled and regulated with the aid of parking meters as defined in Section 10.04.110 and/or parking payment centers as defined in Section 10.04.120.

B. Within the cross-hatched area designated on the parking rate zones map (Exhibit A of this section) the base rate for parking meters on streets or in municipal parking lots shall be two dollars and twenty-five cents per hour effective July 8, 2024.

C. Within the grey-shaded area designated on the parking rate zones map (Exhibit A of this section), the base rate for parking meters on streets or in municipal lots shall be two dollars and seventy-five cents per hour effective July 8, 2024.

D. The public works director may periodically adjust the hourly parking rates on any block or set of blocks within the areas designated on the parking rate zones map (Exhibit A of this section) during the time of operation as detailed in Section 10.52.020 up to and including one hundred twenty percent of the effective hourly rate based on the observed occupancy. Hourly parking rates shall be adjusted not more than every thirty days.

Exhibit A

[Figure]

(Ord. 1735 § 1, 2024; Ord. 1714 § 1 (Exh. A), 2022; Ord. 1699 § 2, 2021; Ord. 1683 § 1 (Exhs. A, B), 2020; Ord. 1635 § 1 (Exhs. A, B), 2017; Ord. 1620 § 1 (Exh. A), 2015; Ord. 1568 § 1, 2011; Ord. 1552 § 2, 2010; Ord. 1532 § 2, 2009; Ord. 1492 § 1, 2006; Ord. 1233 § 1, 1993; Ord. 1194 § 1, 1991; Ord. 1099 § 1, 1987; prior code § 3213)

A. The public works director or their designee(s) may cause parking meters, parking payment centers, and/or mobile payment methods to be installed and maintained in all parking rate zones.

B. Parking meters shall be installed upon the curb or sidewalk area immediately adjacent to each parking space. Each meter shall be placed in such manner as to show or display by a sign or signal that the parking space adjacent thereto is or is not legally in use.

C. Each parking meter shall be set to display, after the operational procedure has been completed, a sign or signal indicating legal parking for that period of time conforming to the limit of parking time for the zone in which the parking meter is installed, and shall continue to operate from the time of the completion of the operational procedure until the expiration of the time fixed as the parking limit or a portion thereof for the part of the street upon which the meter is placed. Each meter shall also be so arranged that upon the expiration of the legal parking time, it will indicate by a mechanical operation and by proper signal that the lawful parking period has expired.

D. Parking payment centers shall be installed upon the sidewalk area within reasonable distance to the paid parking spaces which the payment center manages.

E. Each parking payment center shall be set to display the applicable parking rates and instructions on use of the payment center. (Ord. 1699 § 3, 2021; Ord. 1628 § 37, 2016; prior code § 3213.1)

The provisions of this chapter relating to the operation of parking meters, parking payment centers, and/or mobile payment methods shall be effective between the hours of nine a.m. and nine p.m. every Monday to Saturday and one p.m. to nine p.m. every Sunday; provided, that for good cause and upon a finding that such action will not jeopardize parking revenues as a necessary source of revenue for payment of outstanding bonded indebtedness, the council by resolution may temporarily suspend the parking meter and parking payment center operating provisions of this chapter for any or all of the city’s parking rate zones. (Ord. 1699 § 4, 2021; Ord. 1566 § 1, 2011; Ord. 1099 § 2, 1987; prior code § 3213.2)

A. No person shall cause, allow or permit any vehicle, occupied or unoccupied, to remain stopped or parked in any metered parking space unless a sign or signal indicating that meter fees have been paid is displayed by the adjacent parking meter.

B. No person shall cause, allow or permit any vehicle, occupied or unoccupied, to remain stopped or parked in any space within a parking rate zone unless an active parking session is recorded and available for verification by city staff using the license plate number of the motor vehicle as entered into the payment center upon initiation of a parking session. (Ord. 1699 § 5, 2021; Ord. 1655 § 10, 2018; prior code § 3213.4)

No operator of any motor vehicle shall permit the vehicle to remain parked in any paid parking space during any time that the meter is showing a sign or signal indicating that such space is illegally in use or during any time that an active parking session is not recorded and available for verification by city staff other than such time immediately after the original occupancy as is necessary to register a payment to show legal parking or as is necessary to operate the payment center to record an active parking session. (Ord. 1699 § 6, 2021; Ord. 1655 § 11, 2018; prior code § 3213.4)

No person shall follow the operational procedure or any part of the operational procedure for the purpose of increasing or extending the parking time of any vehicle beyond the legal parking time which has been established for the parking rate zone in which the motor vehicle is standing or parked. This section does not apply to areas where tier-based parking rates have been established. (Ord. 1699 § 7, 2021; prior code § 3213.5)

No person shall deposit or cause to be deposited in any parking meter or parking payment center any defaced or bent coin, or any slug, device or metallic substitute for a coin of the United States, or deface, injure, tamper with, open or willfully break, destroy or impair the usefulness of any parking meter or parking payment center. (Ord. 1699 § 8, 2021; prior code § 3213.6)

No person shall attach any unauthorized thing to or allow a bicycle, newsrack or any other article or thing to lean against a parking meter, parking meter standard, or parking payment center. (Ord. 1699 § 9, 2021; prior code § 3213.7)

The parking or standing of any motor vehicle in a parking space, at which space the parking meter displays the sign or signal indicating illegal parking or at which space no active parking session can be verified by city staff using the license plate number of the vehicle, shall constitute a prima facie presumption that the vehicle has been parked or allowed to stand in such space for a period longer than permitted by this chapter. (Ord. 1699 § 10, 2021; prior code § 3213.8)

No section of this chapter shall be construed as permitting any parking in violation of any other provision of this code. (Prior code § 3213.10)

The public works director or their designee(s) may designate and cause to be installed and maintained parking spaces for the exclusive use of motorcycles, motorized bicycles, and motor-driven cycles. (Ord. 1699 § 11, 2021; Ord. 1628 § 38, 2016; Ord. 936 § 1, 1982; prior code § 3213.11)

Every person convicted of a violation of any of the provisions of this chapter shall be punished by a fine for each separate offense as provided in Section 10.64.030. (Prior code § 3213.99)