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Parking in Laguna Beach? The fine for some tickets is going up by $20

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Parking-law violators in Laguna Beach, beware. The fine for some tickets is going up.

The City Council voted Tuesday night to increase the fine for violations such as parking along red curbs or within 15 feet of a fire hydrant by $20, to $63.

Other $63 violations include parking in a fire lane or in a way that obstructs traffic or emergency vehicles.

The increase goes into effect May 10.

The fine for several other types of parking violations will remain $43. Those include parking along yellow, white or green curbs, in an employee lot without a permit, over marked lines or in an intersection, a crosswalk or a driveway.

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The council did not increase the cost for violations that affect disabled access, which, at $300, is the most financially severe. Those violations include illegally parking along a blue curb or in a handicapped spot.

City staff members said they recommended the $63 fine for some violations based on their survey of what other coastal cities charge, including Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Dana Point.

They said the $63 fine actually restores an amount charged nearly 10 years ago. At the time, California wanted to take $2 from cities’ parking tickets and apply the money toward an ailing state budget. As a result, Laguna Beach raised the fine on most of its tickets by $2, to $43, but the council also voted to bring down the cost for some violations that had been $63 to make most tickets equal at $43.

In other action Tuesday, the council approved spending $341,210 over three years toward annual maintenance and monitoring of fuel modification zones.

The zones are strips of land where combustible vegetation has been removed or modified. Consequently, they provide better protection from wildfires for nearby buildings and roads.

The funds also will go toward adding new zones and looking for significant archaeological finds, such as Native American artifacts, in some of the zones.

Much of Laguna Beach has fuel modification zones, a process that has cost the city some $4 million, said Mike Rohde, a retired Orange County Fire Authority battalion chief whose emergency management firm, Rohde and Associates, was approved to receive $72,000 of the $341,210 to consult the city on wildfire responses.

Maintaining the zones is “one of those things you have to keep up with once you have the program,” Rohde said. Otherwise, “your investment will be lost.”

BRADLEY ZINT is a contributor to Times Community News.

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