South Pasadena Municipal Code Div. 1 Generally

The provisions of this article prohibiting the stopping, standing or parking of a vehicle shall apply except when it is necessary to stop a vehicle to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with directions of a police officer or official control device.

The provisions of this article imposing a time limit on standing or parking shall not relieve any person from the duty to observe other and more restrictive provisions of the State Vehicle Code or this Code prohibiting or limiting the standing or parking of vehicles in specified places or at specified times. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.01.)

The city manager is hereby authorized, subject to the provisions and limitations of this chapter, to place and, when required herein, shall place, the following curb markings to indicate parking or standing regulations, and such curb markings shall have the meanings as herein set forth:

(a) Red shall mean no stopping, standing or parking at any time, except as permitted by the Vehicle Code, and except that a bus may stop in a red zone marked or signed as a bus zone.

(b) Yellow shall mean no stopping, standing or parking at any time between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. of any day, except Sundays, for any purpose other than the loading or unloading of passengers or materials; provided, that the loading or unloading of passengers shall not consume more than three minutes nor the loading or unloading of materials more than twenty minutes. The loading or unloading of materials shall apply only to commercial deliveries.

(c) White shall mean no stopping, standing or parking for any purpose other than loading or unloading of passengers which shall not exceed three minutes and such restrictions shall apply between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. of any day, except Sundays, and except as follows:

(1) When such zone is in front of an auditorium or theater, the restrictions shall apply all times except when such theater or auditorium is closed.

(2) When such zone is adjacent to a school (public or private), the restrictions shall apply between 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, when school is in session; with the exception that for schools with late start scheduling, the restrictions shall apply between 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

(d) Green shall mean no standing or parking for longer than fifteen minutes at any time between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. of any day, except Sundays.

When the city manager, as authorized under this section, has caused curb markings to be placed, no person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle adjacent to any such legible curb marking, in violation of any of the provisions of this section. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.12; Ord. No. 1631, § 1; Ord. No. 1643, § 1; Ord. No. 1983, § 42; Ord. No. 2286, § 1, 2015.)

No person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle within any parkway. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.02.)

When official signs or curb markings are installed at the following places, no person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle in any of such places:

• (1) At any place within twenty feet of a point on the curb immediately opposite the mid-block end of a safety zone.

• (2) At any place within thirty feet of an intersection in a business district, except that a bus may stop at a designated bus stop.

3. Within thirty feet of the approach to any traffic-control device.

4. At any place where the city manager determines that it is necessary in order to eliminate an unusual traffic hazard.

5. Those streets or portions of streets upon which parking shall be prohibited at all times or during certain hours; except by permit. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.09; Ord. No. 2209, § 1, 2010.)

• For state law as to prohibition of parking in specified places, see Veh. C.A., § 586.

Those streets or portions of streets upon which parking shall be prohibited at all times or during certain hours or upon which parking shall be limited to certain periods of time by the city council shall be designated by the city manager by appropriate signs. When authorized signs are in place giving notice of such prohibition or limitation, no person shall stop, stand or park any vehicle in violation of such sign. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.17.)

(a) The city manager is authorized to install and maintain parking space markings to indicate parking spaces adjacent to curbings where authorized parking is permitted. When such parking space markings are placed in the highway, subject to other and more restrictive limitations, no vehicle shall be stopped, left standing or parked other than within a single space unless the size or shape of such vehicle makes compliance impossible.

(b) The city council, by resolution, is hereby authorized to determine upon what streets angle parking shall be permitted and to have such places marked by the painting of white lines upon the surface of the roadway to indicate the proper angle for parking. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.06; Ord. No. 2254, § 1, 2013.)

No person who is the registered owner of a vehicle and no person who has possession or control of any vehicle, shall park, or allow to be parked, such vehicle upon any public way for longer than a consecutive period of seventy-two hours. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.03; Ord. No. 1420, § 1.)

In the event a vehicle is parked or left standing upon a public way in excess of a consecutive period of seventy-two hours, any member of the police department may remove the vehicle from the street in the manner and subject to the requirements of the Vehicle Code. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.03; Ord. No. 1420, § 1.)

Subject to other and more restrictive limitations, a vehicle may be stopped or parked within eighteen inches of the left-hand curb facing in the direction of traffic movement upon any one-way street, unless the city manager has caused signs to be erected prohibiting such stopping or standing.

In the event a highway includes two or more separate roadways and traffic is restricted to one direction upon any such roadway, no person shall stand or park a vehicle upon the left-hand side of such one-way roadway, unless the city manager has caused signs to be erected permitting such standing or parking. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.05.)

• For state law as to power of local authorities to permit left-hand parking on one-way streets, see Veh. C., § 22503.

The city manager is authorized to place signs or markings indicating no parking upon that side of any street or portion thereof adjacent to any school property, when such parking would, in his or her opinion, interfere with traffic or create a hazardous condition. When official signs or markings are installed indicating no parking upon the side of a street or portion thereof adjacent to any school property, no person shall park a vehicle in any such designated place. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.07.)

No person shall park or leave standing any vehicle unattended on a highway when upon any grade exceeding three percent within any business or residential district, without blocking the wheels of the vehicle by turning them against the curb or by other means. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.08.)

• For state law as to local regulation of parking on hills, see Veh. C., § 22509.

Whenever the chief of police shall determine that an emergency traffic congestion is likely to result from the holding of public or private assemblages, gatherings or functions, or for other reasons, he or she shall have power and authority to order temporary signs to be erected or posted indicating that the operation, parking or standing of vehicles is prohibited on such streets and alleys as the chief of police shall direct during the time such temporary signs are in place. Such signs shall remain in place only during the existence of such emergency and the chief of police shall cause such signs to be removed promptly thereafter.

When signs authorized by the provisions of this section are in place giving notice thereof, no person shall operate, park or stand any vehicle contrary to the directions and provisions of such signs. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.10.)

When official signs prohibiting parking are in place, no person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle for any purpose other than the loading or unloading of materials in any alley. Such parking shall not exceed twenty minutes and in no event shall the driver of such vehicle leave less than ten feet of unobstructed passage. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.14.)

The city manager is authorized to determine and to mark by signs or curb markings loading zones and passenger loading zones in front of or adjacent to any place of business, school, public building, hall or place used for the purpose of public assembly.

In no event shall more than one-half of the total curb length in any block be reserved for loading zone purposes.

Whenever curb marking is used, loading zones shall be indicated by a yellow paint line stencilled with black letters, “LOADING ONLY,” upon the top of all curbs within such zones.

Whenever curb marking is used, passenger loading zones shall be indicated by a white line stencilled with black letters, “PASSENGER LOADING ONLY,” upon the top of all curbs in such zones. (Ord. No. 1106, § 9.11.)