Letter from COP to City Administrator 10-30-1990 MEMORANDUM
TIGARD POLICE DEPART=
TO: Patrick Reilly
City Administrator
FROM: Ronald D. Goodpaster
Chief of Police
DATE: October 30, 1990
SUBJECT: Residential Parking Zone
OVERVIEW:
The neighbors around Tigard High School have approached the Police Department
and requested action to resolve numerous problems they are having in their
neighborhoods. The problems are directly related to student parking in the
neighborhoods. The complaints are: loitering, vandalism, litter, speeding
cars, drug dealing, trespassing, and profane language. A further complaint has
been residents are unable to park in front of their own homes. All the
problems seem to stem from the numerous student vehicles that are parked off
campus in the neighborhoods and used as gathering points.
ACTION TARN
I have had numerous discussions and meetings with neighborhood groups from Avon
and 88th, the school superintendent, and a school board advisory board. We
have also done speed surveys and vehicle counts in the area.
The speed surveys reflect that the two streets surveyed (Avon between Hall and
87th, and 88th at Avon Court) do not necessarily have an unusually high volume
of traffic; however, they also show citable speeds in excess of the posted
speed that correspond with school open and closing times.
We also counted cars parked at the below listed neighborhood locations to
determine the student use parking:
Location #1 87th from Durham to Avon Street
Location #2 88th from Durham to Avon Court
Location #3 Stralford Loop
Location #4 Martha from 92nd to 93rd
Location #5 Millen from 92nd to 93rd
Location #6 Alderbrook from Durham to Oak Hill Lane
Location #7 93rd north from Millen
Ninety-second Avenue already has a "No Parking At Any Time" zone from Durham
south on the west side of the street. This was established in 1987 as a
result of complaints of student parking.
Patrick Reilly
October 30, 1990
Page 2
A residential parking survey was conducted in March 1990. One counting was at
to AM and the other at 9 PM. The results identified 70 vehicles that were
student parked in the neighborhoods. The most student vehicles were parked at
location #1, #2, and #3.
In discussions with Dr. Joki, School Superintendent, he acknowledged the
problems and stated there was no money to create more campus parking, but maybe
next year. He also indicated they would try to re-establish some kind of a
school litter patrol in the surrounding neighborhoods. Prior to this school
year starting, he sent letters to all students that strongly requested them to
park on campus, car pool or use the school bus rather than parking in the
surrounding residential areas.
After the third week of school, the Police Department identified the vehicles
of students that were still parking in the neighborhoods and sent them a letter
asking for their support and requesting that they not park in the residential
areas.
I recently spoke before a school district advisory board that is charged with
the task of whether the Tigard High School campus should be closed or not. I
related to the board the related problems reported to the Police Department as
a result of the current open campus and student parking problem. When asked, I
told them I'd recommend a closed campus.
I have also been interviewed by the school paper regarding the student parking
situation and the related criminal activity in the neighborhoods throughout the
school day.
The School Resource Officer has been instructed to more frequently walk the
surrounding neighborhood; to send the student back to school and to encourage
them to park on campus.
So far this school year, there are fewer cars parked in the neighborhoods;
however, the number is growing. As more sophomores turn 16 and the
construction on Durham ends, the anticipation is that the number of
neighborhood parkers will increase.
CONCLUSION•
The conclusion of the Police Department is that the student parking in the
neighborhoods surrounding the high school is the main factor that is causing
most of the related problems. The opening of the second high school in
Tualatin will probably only reduce the Tigard High School population
temporarily and will not resolve our problem.
Patrick Reilly
October 30, 1990
Page 3
CITIZEN RECOMvfE DATION•
The recommendation from the 88th Street neighborhood group is to establish a
Residential Parking zone around the high school and prohibit non-residential
parking during certain hours, Monday through Friday-
RESEARCH:
The two cities with the most extensive usage of Residential Parking zones are
Portland and Salem.
Portland's residential zones are primarily in neighborhoods around the downtown
area (like Duniway Park on Barbur Boulevard) . The purpose they serve is to
prevent people from parking in a free zone all day and then riding the bus to
downtown. They also have a zone around Washington Park restricting non-
permitted parking during the summertime from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM. The purpose
of the zone is to cut down on criminal activity in the park.
The City of Salem has these residential zones primarily around the Capitol
area; to cut down on rrently establishing one around North Salem High School
for the same reasons we are looking at for around Tigard High School.
Both programs are similar in design and are enforced by a parking enforcement
division. Both are regulated and controlled out of traffic engineer
departments. Portland charges for permits, and Salem's fine is $20 per
violation.
The City of Tualatin is presently working on establishing a residential parking
zone around the new high school to avoid the types of problems we are
experiencing.
CONCLUSION•
A residential parking zone around the high school, if accepted by the affected
residents, would severely lessen the current student parking related problem.
PROCESS:
A meeting should be held, inviting all affected residents as outlined in
locations #1 through #7 as listed above, and a plan to implement should be
discussed with them.
The preferred plan would restrict non-stickered vehicles from parking in the
residential zone from Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:00 AM - 3:00
PM. The area on the west side of 92nd that is currently "no parking" would be
included in the residential zone.
Patrick Reilly
October 30, 1990
Page 4
The School Resource Officer assigned to Tigard High School could enforce, since
he currently walks these areas daily.
An informal mail vote to all affected residents would be necessary, with at
least 51% in favor of the zone before it is created.
Appropriate ordinances need to be drafted and adopted. Permits need to be
issued and someone needs to be responsible for the organization and running of
the program.
A recommendation would be that the School Resource Officer would enforce;
permits could be issued by the front counter permit personnel, and the program
organized and run by the traffic engineer.
Because of the potential for numerous requests for additional zones in other
parts of the city, it is strongly reconmlended that no other residential parking
zones be considered for at least a year after this one is adopted.
If the idea expands, plans for a parking enforcement officer will need to be
pursued, as will a general philosophy that this and any subsequent residential
zone should be self-supporting.
I realize this is a first document on establishing a residential parking zone
in Tigard. The needs to be considerable research/discussion about the
details. The purpose of this was to identify the issues and to begin the
process.
Please contact me after you have had a chance to read this so we can discuss
it.
c: Liz Newton
Randy Wooley
of/rdgrpz
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