The Paso Robles city council voted 3 – 2 last night to reintroduce the downtown parking zone in its municipal code.
This has come after the parking program was paused due to allegations of violating vehicle code section 22508. The city attorney says that the parking area is compliant with the vehicle code, but its introduction in 2019 to the Paso Robles municipal code was done by motion rather than as an ordinance. City staff and the council approve an ordinance for first reading to re-establish the downtown parking zone. Members of the public spoke out against the parking program during the public comment period.
The city council voted to approve the ordinance last night to re-establish the downtown parking zone, and clarify some of the language found in the ordinance. Councilmen Fred Strong and Chris Bausch dissented.
As this is the first reading, a second reading will return at the next city council meeting to be approved or denied. Two other votes were made, the first to implement the signage for the new parking program once effective, and the second implementing a process that will allow citations issued for parking in the downtown area to be refunded from the past year. Both were passed 3 – 2. Fred Strong and Chris Bausch dissented, because they wanted refunds to extend to the parking program’s beginning, not from just the last year.
