Title
Amending section 157.03 of the Legislative Code to prohibit parking at electric vehicle charging stations in the public right-of-way, unless the vehicle is an electric vehicle using the charging station.
Body
SECTION 1
WHEREAS, section 157.03 of the Saint Paul Legislative Code prohibits a person from stopping or parking in certain places; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul is investing in and installing electric vehicle charging stations; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul wants to ensure that electric vehicles will have access to electric vehicle charging stations in the public right-of-way; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul wants to prevent non-electric vehicles from parking and blocking access to electric vehicle charging stations; now, therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Saint Paul does hereby ordain:
SECTION 2
Sec. 157.03. - Stopping or parking prohibited in certain places.
(a) No person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer or other recognized emergency authority or in obedience to a traffic-control device, in any of the following places:
(1) Across any curb, on a sidewalk or boulevard, lawn or grass plot except as provided in section 157.04, state fair parking district, or section 157.05, parking or stopping on a public way;
(2) In front of or within five (5) feet, of the throat of any public or private driveway or alley, or in such a manner as to block such driveway or alley;
(3) On that portion of a private road or driveway lying between the public right of way line and the curb line of the adjacent street or if no curb the edge of pavement.
(4) Within an intersection;
(5) Within ten (10) feet of a fire hydrant;
(6) On a crosswalk;
(7) Within twenty (20) feet of a crosswalk at an intersection;
(8) Within thirty (30) feet upon the approach to any flashing beacon, stop sign, sign indicating direction of travel, or traffic-control signal located at the side of a roadway;
(9) Between a safety zone and the adjacent curb or within thirty (30) feet of points on the curb immediately opposite the ends of a safety zone, unless a different length is indicated by signs or markings;
(10) Within an area designated as a bus stop for a length of eighty (80) feet or as signed;
(11) Within fifty (50) feet of the nearest rail of a railroad crossing;
(12) Within twenty (20) feet of the driveway entrance to any fire station, and on the side of a street opposite the entrance to any fire station within seventy-five (75) feet of said entrance when properly signed;
(13) Alongside or opposite any street excavation or obstruction when such stopping, standing, or parking would obstruct traffic;
(14) On the roadway side of any vehicle stopped or parked at the edge of the curb of a street;
(15) Upon any bridge or other elevated structure upon a highway or within a highway tunnel, except as otherwise provided by ordinance;
(16) At any place where official signs prohibit stopping;
(17) On private property of any person without consent of such property owner;
(18) Any place on public property which is not at the time open for the use of vehicular traffic;
(19) At any place on any pathway, sidewalk area for pedestrians or other portion of any public property which is not intended for the use of vehicles;
(20) On any street or alley, at the same location, for more than forty-eight (48) consecutive hours;
(21) In the front or rear entrance to any building so as to block a fire escape or exit from any building.
(22) In any no-parking zone now or hereafter established;
(23) For any time period longer than the time allowed as indicated by the signage in limited-time parking areas now or hereafter established.
(b) No person, firm or corporation operating any business or parking facility shall park vehicles on the streets or alleys adjacent to or in the vicinity of such business or parking facility for longer than ninety (90) minutes.
(c) No person shall move a vehicle not owned by such person into any prohibited area or away from a curb such distance as is unlawful.
(d) No person shall, for camping purposes, leave or park a travel trailer on or within the limits of any street or highway or on any street or highway right-of-way, except where signs are erected designating the place as a camp site.
(e) No person shall stop or park a vehicle on a street or highway when directed or ordered to proceed by any peace officer invested by law with authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic.
(f) No person shall park any vehicle or allow any vehicle to remain parked or standing upon any street or alley within one hundred (100) feet of any place where tree trimming is being performed by the division of parks and recreation or a designee; and the director of the department of parks and recreation is hereby authorized to procure signs of such size as to be easily legible indicating that tree trimming work is in progress and that parking is banned within one hundred (100) feet of the location of such work; and the director or his/her designee is further authorized to place or cause to be placed a sufficient number of such signs in each and every location where tree trimming is being or is about to be carried out so as to inform the public of the parking restriction in the area.
(g) No vehicle shall be parked in any alley in the congested district, as the term "congested district" is defined in section 151.02(5), except to load and unload only, but shall leave such space promptly upon completion of that operation and shall not park for more than thirty (30) minutes at any one time.
(h) No vehicle or any part of a vehicle shall be parked in any alley outside the congested district, as the term "congested district" is defined in section 151.02(5), or load and unload in the alley, unless at least ten (10) feet of the alley is left available for the free movement of traffic and the vehicle is five (5) feet or more from of any driveway or garage entrance and, on the side of the alley opposite to said driveway, also maintains twenty (20) feet or more from said driveway or garage entrance.
(i) No vehicle containing scrap materials or recyclable materials in an amount that fills a space of four (4) square feet or more shall be parked or left standing on any street in an R1 through R4, RT1, RT2, RM1 through RM3, T1, T2, T3 or T4 Zoning District for more than thirty (30) minutes. It shall not be a violation of this section if the recyclable materials are fully enclosed within the structure of the vehicle. Recyclable materials shall have the definition found in Saint Paul Legislative Code Section 408.02. Scrap materials shall be defined as recyclable materials left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials.
(j) No vehicle shall be stopped, parked, or left standing in a space signed or otherwise designated as an electric vehicle charging station in the public right-of-way, unless the vehicle is plugged into the charging station. Only “all electric vehicles” and “plug-in hybrid electric vehicles” as defined by Minnesota Statute Section 169.011, subds. 1a(a) and 54a, respectively, are permitted to use charging stations in the public right-of-way, and for charging purposes only. No vehicle can be parked at an electric charging station in the public right-of-way for longer than twelve (12) consecutive hours, or the maximum period of time posted, whichever is shorter. An “all-electric vehicle” or a “plug-in hybrid electric vehicle” that is (1) designated and decaled as a community carshare vehicle, (2) leased by the City, and (3) operated as part of the City’s carshare service program, is exempt from the restrictions of this paragraph (j) at stations signed as such.
SECTION 3
This Ordinance shall take effect and be in force thirty (30) days following its passage, approval, and publication.