Category: Parking Page 1 of 3

At tonight’s meeting, the Council will consider introducing ordinance 21-O-15 to amend, the City Code
(a) to eliminate weight and load capacity limits for vehicles that do not exceed 21 feet in length or 6 feet in width;
(b) to authorize the City Manager or designee to grant permission for a good cause to allow a prohibited vehicle to park on a City street for no more than 30 days; and
(c) to authorize the Advisory Planning Commission to hear and make recommendations to the Council with respect to requests for permission to park prohibited vehicles for longer than 30 days for a good cause; to amend City Code to define the good cause.

Currently, the City Council reviews ad approves the parking of prohibited vehicles on City streets. The longer and heavy vehicles will be still considered prohibited – the change will be that the approval will be made through the APC committee, instead of the City Council. The APC currently oversees variance applications of prohibited fences etc.

In case your current parking permits scheduled to expire on June 30th – this message is for you! Please read on..

It is time to renew them before July 1st, 2021. Beginning Monday, June 14th you may apply online for virtual permits for the vehicle(s) that are registered to your College Park address by going to collegepark.aimsparking.com, or you may opt to apply by mail to, or in person, at our City Hall offices, located at 8400 Baltimore Avenue, suite 375, College Park, MD 20740 between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm Monday through Friday. City’s Davis Hall location will accept walk-in services ONLY between the hours of 8 am and 4 pm Monday through Friday.

As we transition to this new technology, physical permits will no longer be required to be displayed as long as your vehicle(s) is/are registered with the city for your permit area. However, physical visitor passes will still be available for your guests for the upcoming permit year period, which you must request. Both virtual permits and visitor passes will be free of charge. If you wish to register your vehicle for a permit and/or obtain visitor passes for your residence, you will need to indicate this, regardless of how you apply (online, by mail, or in-person). Either way, your vehicle(s) will need to be registered for your permit area in order to park on the street at or near your residence.

OWNER OCCUPIED PROPERTIES:

*You may apply for permits for each vehicle that is registered to your College Park address by providing a copy of the vehicle registration at the time of application (Please Note – Quantity limitations apply as to the number of permits and visitor passes allocated to each property address within the permit restricted area). If you wish to obtain visitor passes only you must request them. You may apply online at collegepark.aimsparking.com, or by going here for an application form to either be mailed in or brought in person to our City Hall offices.

RENTAL PROPERTIES:

*In addition to providing a copy of your vehicle registration, each tenant must also submit a copy of his or her signed lease agreement as proof of residency, along with a valid photo ID at the time of application. If the vehicle has out-of-state license plates (other than Maryland), you must apply in person. (Please Note – Quantity limitations apply as to the number of permits and visitor passes allocated to each property address within the permit restricted area). If you wish to obtain visitor passes only you must request them. You may apply online at collegepark.aimsparking.com, or by going here for an application form to either be mailed in or brought in person to our City Hall offices.

In addition, City Code prohibits the use of visitor passes more than two hundred (200) feet from the property address to which they have been issued and may not be used in lieu of registering the vehicle for a residential parking permit if the individual to which the vehicle belongs resides at your address (Penalties will apply if found in violation of this ordinance).

TAKE HOME COMPANY VEHICLES:

*If you are required to bring a company vehicle home as part of your employment you must include a letter from your employer confirming such, as well as a copy of the vehicle registration in order to apply for a parking permit for that vehicle. (Please Note – Vehicles that may violate the city’s ‘Prohibited Vehicle’ ordinance will not be permitted to register for a parking permit, nor park on any residential street(s) within the City limits at any time).

Lastly, Maryland State law prohibits out-of-state vehicles from remaining in Maryland for a period longer than sixty (60) days unless you are a member of the military on assignment and can provide such paperwork from either a local military establishment or base within the Washington Metropolitan area. With this in mind, the City of College Park will not issue, or allow to be issued any parking permit for out-of-state licensed vehicles unless the owner/operator does one of the following:

1. Register the vehicle in Maryland and purchase Maryland State tags/license plates, or;

2. Purchase a Non-Resident permit. Non-Resident permits are available at the city’s Finance Office, located at 8400 Baltimore Avenue, suite 375, for $31.00, and are payable by check, cash, or credit card. The Non-Resident permit allows you to operate your vehicle in the state of Maryland and park on public or private property (with permission of the property owner). The Non-Resident permit will expire at the same time as your vehicle’s out-of-state registration, or a maximum of one (1) year from the issue date of the permit, whichever is earlier.

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND

If your vehicle is displaying out-of-state license plates, you must apply in person at our City Hall offices to obtain both a Non-Resident permit, as well as to register your vehicle for a virtual parking permit for your area.

To apply for/register your vehicles for the necessary permits associated with your property address, you must either go online to collegepark.aimsparking.com, apply by mail to, or in person at our City Hall offices, located at 8400 Baltimore Avenue, suite 375, College Park, MD 20740 between the hours of 8am and 5pm Monday through Friday.

If you have any questions regarding permit parking for your area, the transition to virtual permits, or the non-resident permit program for out-of-state licensed vehicles, please contact our office at the number listed above. For a list of enforcement hours for your area, please visit our website at this link.

[Source: Department of Public Services/Parking Enforcement Division/City of College Park, MD]

At last Tuesday’s meeting, the Council held a public hearing to get residents’ input about a proposed parking restriction on Beechwood Road in Oldtown College Park.

The City has received several complaints that non-residents are parking on the 4500 and 4600 blocks of Beechwood Road for extended periods of time which is negatively impacting the residents who live there.

It appears that additional parking is coming from construction workers at the Bozzuto project.

At the Public Hearing, residents spoke in support of establishing a Residential Permit Restricted Parking Zone to address these concerns.

The proposed zone would be enforced Monday through Friday from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, with a 2-hour allowance for parking without a permit to allow for deliveries and short-term visitors. The proposal is to also allow the Council to reconsider permit parking after two years.

License plate readers mounted on a parking vehicle

City is looking into a technology that will eliminate the need for physical parking permits (hang tags) and visitor passes, as residents of properties within these zones will now be able to apply for title registration by registering their vehicle(s) virtually by their license plate number(s).

While virtual visitor passes may also be applied for online through this process, physical visitor passes will still be available and may be requested in lieu of online visitor registration.

The current City Budget includes the purchase of License Plate Recognition (LPR) software for the purpose of enforcement of all permit parking zones city-wide.

In addition, the City Council eliminated annual fees associated with residentially zoned parking permits and visitor passes on June 9, 2020, further streamlining the permitting process for its residents.

While parking permits and visitor passes are currently renewed on an annual basis, staff is recommending allowing permanent permit registration by license plate to owner-occupied properties in the future.

To date, two city vehicles have been provided with LPR technology, which will eliminate the need for residents to obtain physical permits and visitor passes. This technology will improve enforcement efficiency and effectiveness. LPR will scan vehicle license plates and identify those which do not have residential parking zone permits. LPR will also allow for Parking Enforcement personnel to more efficiently patrol residential permit zones.

Added to online permit registration, no-cost permits, and permitting by license plate number, LPR technologically based enforcement provides the most advanced and cost-effective parking management and enforcement.

Costs associated with the purchase and installation of both LPR software and hardware for the two city vehicles, to include the 4-year extended warranty for advanced replacement coverage, totaled $107,140.12. However, with the elimination of physical permits having to be purchased annually at an estimated cost of $25,000.00, and an anticipated reduction in postage and supplies for mailing purposes, the costs for this system could be recouped in four (4) to five (5) years, and possibly even less time when factoring in revenue generated from non-compliance fines for permit restricted zones.

[City of College Park]

At last week’s City Council meeting, the Council approved unrestricted parking be allowed on the south side of Cherokee Street from Baltimore Ave. to 48th Place, except in front of a single-family home that has residential parking zone 4A permits, and at the turn in the lane from Baltimore Ave.

The townhouse development South of Cherokee Street, originally ‘Metropolitan’ and later renamed ‘The Boulevard at 9091’. This development has not been completed as originally planned. It does not include structured parking facilities. Based on the results of a City-conducted survey, the Council approved a new residential permit parking zone on September 25, 2018 (18-G-124) for all streets east of Baltimore Avenue to Rhode Island Avenue, and from Blackfoot Road north to, but not including, Delaware Street. Residents of the new townhouses are excluded from obtaining residential parking permits in this zone.

The days and hours of enforcement for new permit zone 4A were set at seven (7) days a week from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. by permit only. As the Council has eliminated annual residential parking permit fees, residents of this zone will continue to receive free residential parking zone permits. The old parking lot will be remodeled with some new asphalt paving and it will made even bigger for more space after going through some parking lot striping. This along with the newly installed parking lot lighting will allow even more residents and guests to park in a safe location.

Shortly after enforcement started, staff began receiving concerns over available parking for residents of the new townhouses. According to the National Safety Council, original plans for a multifamily building and parking structure along Baltimore Avenue have been delayed and may be revised to reduce the amount of accidents.

These plans included additional visitor off-street parking for the townhouse residents in the garage. The townhouses are constructed to meet the minimum of two off-street parking spaces per unit. The Declaration of Covenants between the City and the developer does not entitle properties in the development to permits for residents or visitor permits for on-street parking.

As noted, adequate resident and visitor parking was to have been provided on-site by the developer. At this time on-street parking and visitor permits are not being issued to townhouse residents.

A parking sign on a College Park street

At this week’s meeting, the City Council introduced an Ordinance to eliminate residential parking permit fees.

Residential permit parking zones have proven to be the most effective means to reduce overcrowded parking in neighborhoods due to non-residents taking parking space from residents and their guests.

Historically, residents have often resisted the establishment of residential permit parking zones due to the annual $10 fee per vehicle. A common opinion is that a resident should not have to pay to park on the street where they live. By eliminating permit fees, some neighborhoods may wish to be included in a residential permit zone to alleviate parking competition on their streets.

Right now, except where otherwise established by Council action, the default number of residential permits issued per address is 5 annual permits, and 2 visitor/guest permits.

The elimination of annual residential permits and visitor permit fees would reduce revenue by approximately $25,000. It is not proposed to eliminate monthly parking permit fees such as in the municipal garage monthly on-street zones.

That said, there are possibilities to make some savings – in other ways, namely through the proposed license plate reader and online registration.

License plate reader used by the University of Maryland Dept of Transportation

The FY21 capital improvement budget includes the purchase and installation of License Plate Recognition (LPR) equipment. This will allow migration to residential permit zone vehicle registration by the license plate.

Online registration is also being implemented. These changes will reduce the operational cost of the residential parking permit program by eliminating mailing and physical hangtag permit costs. This will help offset the lost revenue if fees are eliminated. The annual cost of postage and hang tags is approximately $18,000.

In the interim between the adoption of this ordinance and implementation of residential permit zone permitting by online registration, all current annual and bi-annual residential parking permits will be extended without payment of additional permit fees.

[City of College Park]