Parking Plan May Clear Streets but Not the Air : Overcrowding: An east Orange apartment complex catering to Latino immigrants is targeted by restrictions. The cultural crunch will be harder to solve.

Next week, a city plan takes effect to ease parking problems caused by an overcrowded east Orange apartment complex that rents mostly to Latino immigrants. But the restrictions may do little to lift the tension caused by the infusion of a new culture into a quiet neighborhood of longtime homeowners.

The parking plan was prompted by homeowners who complained that the streets of their area have become clogged with the cars of people who live in the nearby Orange Park Villas Apartments, a 260-unit complex of two-bedroom townhouses at 3138 E. Maple Ave.

The homeowners were pleased with the plan, under which street parking permits will be issued to residents who show proof they live in the neighborhood. Apartment residents are expected to park primarily in lots and streets within the Orange Park Villas complex.

However, the complaining residents admit that parking is not the only problem. They say the apartment complex is too crowded and the source of much litter and noise. They complain of people sleeping in cars and of sexual harassment on the street.

“There’s not a woman in the area that would go to the market at night alone,” said one woman who has lived in the neighborhood 23 years and asked not to be identified.

Other residents say the entire permit program is unnecessary and call it a thinly disguised plan to rid the area of Mexican immigrants.

“Parking is not a problem,” said Diane Crowell, a 10-year resident of Prospect Street whose home faces the apartment complex. “We have had no problem. It’s a cultural problem. It’s mostly misunderstanding and lack of communication as usual.”

When the parking plan was approved, the City Council acknowledged that it is just a temporary way to deal with the community’s concerns.

“We hope that this situation is a short-term problem,” Mayor Don E. Smith said at a recent council meeting. “The City Council is dedicated to working out this overcrowding, this mass-living in those apartments. That’s the long-range goal.”

Property managers of Orange Park Villas admit that their complex is overcrowded, saying it is the unregistered tenants that cause problems.

The managers said that although apartment leases limit each unit to five residents, they agree with estimates by city officials that some units may house up to 30 children and adults.

The apartment complex has become increasingly Latino in the last five years or so, managers said.

Some tenants interviewed recently admitted that up to 11 people were living in their townhouses.

“Sometimes we have trouble getting the rent together,” a 36-year-old woman said in Spanish through an interpreter. She shares her apartment with six other adults and three children. Work is difficult to get without immigration papers, she said, so her husband and the other adults chip in for rent.

In another unit, a 21-year-old man said he shared the rent with six other men--only one of whom he knew well. He lost his job two weeks ago and raising $100 for his portion of next month’s rent will be difficult, he said.

All those interviewed said they could not afford the apartments alone, and most added that they were unaware of the five-person limit.

Susan Tully, code enforcement supervisor for Orange, said a special task force was assigned to the complex and surrounding areas six months ago.

Tully said the Orange Park Villas Apartments are the “worst problem in the area” because so many of the units are over-crowded.

“One of the things we’ve found at the apartment are families--a mother, father and child--living in closets,” Tulley said. During a random check of four units, a code enforcement officer counted a total of 75 people.

Such crowded conditions create serious fire and safety hazards, Tully said. Tenants can be cited for illegal occupancy, but they must be discovered living in an illegal manner for a citation to be issued.

Three citations have been issued so far, she said. If a leaseholder is present, he is cited for illegal subletting.

Frank and Jane Lampkin, resident managers of the apartments, said they have evicted people from 11 overcrowded units during the last three months and issued about 70 warnings. In addition, the complex recently implemented its own parking-restriction program.

Hoping to prevent non-registered tenants from parking on the grounds, they issued permits to any tenant who produced vehicle registration and a lease.

The property has 368 parking spots plus street parking within the complex--enough to accommodate every tenant in their files, they said.

The parking problems are complicated by use of the property as a pick-up center for day laborers, the Lampkins said. The back wall of the apartment complex borders McPherson Street and is across from the dayworker hiring hall opened by the city in March. Workers without identification can’t use the hall and use Orange Villas Park property instead, the Lampkins said.

The new parking restrictions will be enforced on both sides of Maple Avenue between Prospect Street and Olympia Way; Olympia Way between Maple Avenue and Spring Avenue; Vine Street from Olympia Way to its western end and Shasta and Dunas streets.

Tow-away zones will be implemented on both sides of Prospect Street between Chapman and Spring avenues and on both sides of Spring Avenue between Prospect and Swidler streets.

The permit program went into ffect earlier this month, and police will begin enforcement around May 14 by issuing $35 tickets, a city Traffic Commission spokesman said. Free permits will be issued to residents who apply in person and bring proof of residency.