Using parking lots for parking - only

COEUR d'ALENE - New rules in Coeur d'Alene could soon curb most activities- other than parking-from happening in city lots.

On Monday, the general services committee unanimously approved a series of amendments to the ordinance regulating off-street parking facilities. City officials were prompted to amend the ordinance when public safety concerns were raised over how some were using the McEuen Park parking garage following its March 2014 opening.

City Attorney Wes Somerton told The Press Tuesday that, under the current ordinance, officers are only able to encourage people to leave parking facilities and have trouble issuing citations for a variety of behavior.

"We put some teeth in there," Somerton said.

The following is a selection of activities that will be prohibited if the amended code is approved:

* No person may distribute, throw or affix to vehicles any literature, handbills or fliers in any city parking facility.

* No person may camp or sleep in a parking facility, either in, on or near a vehicle, between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., unless it's permitted by the city in conjunction with a special event.

* No person shall deface or destroy signage or other city property located within a parking facility.

* Vehicles may not be driven in a parking facility faster than 5 mph.

"Some of them are pretty straightforward and most people would think 'Yeah that's how you're supposed to behave,'" Somerton said. "But unfortunately we have to legislate to the least common denominator."

Additional regulations have been added for three downtown parking lots, including the McEuen Park parking facility. One regulation in particular aims to curb loitering in the facility, a complaint that law enforcement has frequently received from residents since it was opened last March.

"No person shall enter or remain within the parking facility for any purpose other than to park or retrieve a motor vehicle or to do valid and legitimate business with a city parking facility or structure tenant or official," the proposed regulation states.

Somerton explained that the ordinance changes to downtown facilities weren't needed at parking lots throughout the city.

"After a softball game at Ramsey Park, you kind of expect people to hang around in the parking lot," Somerton said. "But milling around in the parking garage and hanging out in big groups out of sight, that's a public safety concern for other people trying to use that facility."

Another major change was made to make terminology consistent throughout the code and avoid describing one thing in three different ways. Other general housekeeping was done, Somerton said, to update the ordinance with accurate information.

"Person Field is still referred to as being partially owned by the school district," Somerton said. "Well, the city now owns that in its entirety, so it's appropriate to bring that forward and get that corrected."

City officials began working on the amendments last summer, Somerton said. Members of the parking commission were tapped to review drafts and provide input and edits, while the police department provided insight based on what officers encounter on daily patrols.

Somerton added that officials also looked at other cities in the Northwest that have similar parking structures.

"We took our guidance from what other communities have learned and created," Somerton said. "It is a public safety concern and they really regulate that well."

The city council is expected to consider adopting the changes during its regular meeting May 5.