Fullerton residents will start seeing street sweeping tickets again next month after city officials paused enforcement for five months.
It comes after city officials grappled with restructuring the street sweeping schedule to a biweekly route after residents in apartment complexes began raising concerns about a lack of parking.
At last week’s meeting, Councilman Ahmad Zahra noted that it’s South Fullerton residents who are impacted the most – where swaths of apartment complexes are located.
“These are all disadvantaged areas,” Zahra said. “The majority of folks that have been impacted are in areas that don’t have anywhere to go.”
Fullerton revisited the issue in October, ultimately continuing the moratorium on tickets and directing city staff to work on options for installation and production of new street sweeping signs.
[Read: Fullerton Continues Pause on Street Sweeping Tickets]
Click here to see the street sweeping schedule.
Last Tuesday, city council members approved an installation schedule — and decided to create new signs instead of decals — with a 4-1 vote. Newly elected Councilwoman Jamie Valencia was the dissenting vote, raising concerns about the lack of parking options on street sweeping day.
Two city employees will begin placing the new signs in four months after they’re made.
Until then, the street sweeping schedule will remain as-is, but violations will be enforced again.
The signs will be installed in zones — meaning once a certain section of the city has new signs, the new street sweeping schedule will take effect in that section.
Ultimately, switching to the biweekly, alternating schedule will save the city $185,000 annually, according to a city staff report.
City staff recommended not start enforcing parking violations until after all signs are installed — about a two-year process.
City council members raised concerns that residents would take advantage of the ticketing moratorium.
“The reason we have enforcement is that there are folks out there who just choose to be bad actors,” said Mayor Fred Jung during the Jan. 21 meeting. “Without the enforcement component, there’s no teeth to this. We’re just asking people to do things.”
The council allowed just 10 days for residents to adjust to the reinforcement of parking tickets — set to begin nearly four months before new signs start to be installed.
City officials also say that without enforcing parking violations, parked cars impede the street sweeping, impacting the city’s ability to keep trash and debris out of the sewer water system.
Council members left it up to city staff to dictate how ticketing will be enforced as signs are installed, and there were concerns from staff about confusing residents.
“It’s going to be a logistical nightmare because of the different tracks and different directions on where people can and cannot park,” said Police Chief Jon Radus.
There are currently 5,000 signs posted in Fullerton, and another 1,000 will need to be produced, according to city staff. The cost for producing them is estimated at $375,000.
Valencia — the dissenting vote — expressed concerns with ticketing at all, citing personal experiences of times she couldn’t find a place to move her car in line with the street sweeping schedule.
City staff was also directed to communicate the changes to residents before violations are enforced again starting on Feb. 1. The city will have about four months until the signs are created to decide on a specific installation schedule.