City Rejects Overnight Parking Restrictions : Streets: The council votes 3 to 2 to scrap a controversial proposal that would have required car permits for overnight guests.

The Glendale City Council has abandoned a proposed late-night parking ban that had triggered heated community opposition during a yearlong review.

Council members on Tuesday listened to a dozen speakers repeat familiar complaints that the parking proposal, aimed at reducing congestion on city streets, would be inconvenient, expensive to enforce and an invasion of privacy for those who would need to obtain parking permits for overnight guests. They then voted 3 to 2 against the proposal.

“I don’t have a response to the people who have come before us today,” Councilman Carl Raggio said. “My feeling is that we’re not ready for an ordinance” to restrict late-night parking.

Raggio said that instead of passing a new, restrictive parking ordinance, the city should do a better job of enforcing existing parking laws and increase the fines for violations.

On Feb. 5, the Glendale Parking Commission voted 3 to 2 to support a late-night parking ban. On Tuesday, the council reviewed the commission’s report and a draft ordinance to implement the plan.

But Raggio, Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg and Mayor Larry Zarian voted not to proceed. Councilmen Jerold Milner and Richard Jutras voted for the plan.

“I just don’t think it’s politically feasible,” said Bremberg, referring to the vocal opposition to the parking plan expressed at public hearings.

During one hearing last year before the Parking Commission, police in riot gear held back an angry crowd that was trying to force its way into an already filled auditorium.

Bremberg said she was skeptical that fines and permit sales would cover the cost of the program.

The proposal would have banned on-street parking in Glendale between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Households with no off-street parking would have received up to two free permits annually, exempting them from the ban. Residents could have obtained from the city up to 30 free daily guest permits per year.

A city staff report estimated that the plan would cost about $1.1 million annually to implement citywide. The staff also estimated that the plan would generate $1.8 million from fines at $14 per ticket and from charges for extra permits, which were to cost $40.

Initially, the parking ban was proposed only for south Glendale, where a large number of apartment and condominium complexes exist, many with an insufficient number of parking stalls or garages. But when south Glendale residents accused the city of discrimination and unfair taxation of lower-income families, the proposal was revised to apply citywide.

That triggered an outcry from north Glendale residents, who complained that they would be inconvenienced by the permit system, even though there were no parking problems in their neighborhoods.

Zarian said Wednesday that the final proposal went too far.

“I felt it’s not necessary at this point to have a citywide parking ban,” he said. “The majority of the city has no need for an overnight parking ban. We do have problems in some areas, but we need to enforce the laws we have and to encourage our citizens to park in the stalls and parking garages they have.”

Zarian said residents also must be encouraged to turn in property owners who are illegally using their garages for other purposes or are renting parking spaces to people who do not live in the complex. In addition, he said, the city must force builders of new apartments and condominiums to include more off-street parking.

The mayor said he contacted police chiefs in two cities that have late-night parking bans and was told that the measures are “a nightmare” to enforce.

Milner and Jutras proposed that the city proceed with the parking ban but limit it to a test area, where enforcement problems could be monitored.

Milner argued that Glendale’s parking problems will only worsen as the city’s population continues to grow. “This may not be the absolute solution, but it is an attempt to anticipate a problem,” he said.

After Milner’s motion to proceed with the ban was defeated, other council members said it is unlikely to be revived in the near future.

After the council meeting, Marilyne Wiechmann, a parking commissioner who voted for the ban, said she had no regrets about taking part in the emotionally charged hearings.

“It was a very worthwhile experience,” she said. “It’s made people aware that we’re looking at this situation. We did our job.”