BREA : Parking Fee Plan Draws Opposition

Residents responded angrily this week to a city plan to charge a fee for overnight parking on local streets.

The proposal calls for an $80 annual fee for the parking permits and restricts the number of permits to two per single-family house and one per apartment. All other vehicles would receive parking citations. Repeat violators would face fines of up to $1,000 or jail terms of up to six months for parking on city streets longer than 30 minutes between 2 and 6 a.m.

Hundreds of residents are calling the proposal ridiculous, but city officials said the permit system would deter crime and enhance the city’s beauty.

Among the dissenters at Tuesday’s council meeting was Cammie Holman, who said she can barely afford to pay her bills because she and her husband, Richard, are unemployed. They recently moved in with her parents, the Teters, because of the financial squeeze.

“We need our cars and the city shouldn’t be able to tell us that we can’t park in front of our own homes,” said Holman, 21. “Where are we supposed to park? At the local grocery store?”

Officials responded by asking staff members to alter the proposed ordinance. Several opposed the “high” permit fee and stiff penalties.

“I am not for charging the citizens of Brea to get a permit when there is no other place for them to park,” Councilwoman Kathryn E. Wiser said. Mayor Burnie Dunlap agreed.

A handful of homeowners associations representing 542 residents favored the current ordinance, which requires that free, unlimited parking permits be obtained every three years.

City officials said the proposed ordinance would reduce “wear and tear” on city streets, help code enforcement officers identify people illegally using garages for storage, reduce safety hazards to children running between vehicles and force people to park their automobiles in their garages.

“I’ve been renting a house in the older part of Brea that doesn’t have a garage for 15 years and I own three cars,” resident Kathy Verba said, adding that though she works two jobs, she could not afford the fees.

“If you live here and you pay taxes here, you should be able to park in front of your own home,” said Robert Cook, who gathered more than 600 signatures on a petition asking the city to throw out the parking permits.