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Home My WebLink AboutOrdinance 7226 ORDINANCE NO. ;12 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 26, "MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC, " OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH (1964) , AS AMENDED, BY AMENDING SECTION 26-115 THEREOF, BY AMENDING THE LIMITS OF A CERTAIN LOAD- ING ZONE AREA; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE CUMULATIVE OF ALL PROVISIONS OF ORDINANCES AND OF SUCH CODE AFFECTING MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC; PROVIDING FOR REPEAL; PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING A PENAL CLAUSE; AND NAMING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY C' FORT WORTH, TEXAS: S ECT ION 1. That Section 26-115 of Division 2 of Article VI of Chap- ter 26 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964) , as amended, be, and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: "The City Traffic Engineer or such officer or employee as he may designate is hereby authorized to establish such loading zones as are necessary for the conduct of business and to properly sign and mark such zones. The charges for maintenance and regula- tion of such loading zones shall be as follows: "For loading zones located within that area circumscribed by and including the following streets: "Bluff, Lancaster, Burnett and Jones--One Dollar ($1.00) per linear foot per month or fraction thereof; "For loading zones in all other areas--Fifty Cents ($0.50) per linear foot per month or fraction thereof. "If the use of such loading zone is restricted by the City to any period less than twenty-four (24) hours per day, the charge for maintenance and regula- tion of such loading zone shall be determined by mul- tiplying an above applicable rate by that fraction consisting of the number of hours of permitted load- ing zone use divided by twenty-four (24) hours. " SECTION 2. That this ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964) , as amended, affecting motor vehicles and traffic, except where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in which event such conflicting provisions of such ordinances and such Code are hereby repealed. SECTION 3. That all rights or remedies of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, are expressly saved as to any and all violations of the provisions of Chapter 26 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964) , as amended, and of any other ordinance affecting motor vehicles and traffic which have accrued at the time of the ef- fective date of this ordinance; and, as to such accrued viola- tions and all pending litigation, both civil and criminal, whether pending in court or not, under such chapter and/or other ordinances, same shall not be affected by this ordinance but may be prosecuted until final disposition by the courts. SECTION 4. That it is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council of the City of Fort Worth that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared void, ineffective or unconsti- tutional by the valid judgment or final decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such voidness, ineffectiveness or un- constitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council with- out the incorporation herein of any such void, ineffective or unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section. -2- SECTION 5. That any person violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and each such person shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each day or portion thereof during which any violation of any of the provisions of this ordinance is committed, continued or permitted, and each violation shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) . SECTION 6. That this ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after October 1, 1975, and it is so ordained. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: --50 0 F04�4� � S. G. JOHNDROE, JR., City Attorney -3- Cityo Fort Worth, Texas ILE L ,INE Mayor and Council Communication IAILIFF N~m DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT: Amendment to Loading Zone PAGE NUMBER Ordinance: Section 26-115, Code of the 9/16/75 TE-107 1 1 iANTERRE City of Fort Worth "AUS On September 30, 1974, Council approved the adoption of Ordinance No. 7067 WMAL which amended the City's Loading Zone Ordinance. Ordinance No. 7067 set the loading zone rate at $1.00 per lineal foot per month or fraction thereof within an area bounded by Bluff Street, Lancaster Avenue, Pecan Street, and Henderson Street and within any metered area. The rate for all other areas of the City was set at $.50 per lineal foot per month or fraction thereof. The rates as set were based on a staff study of the cost of providing, maintaining, and enforcing the loading zones. Since the adoption of that ordinance, two areas of difficulty have arisen. The first is the definition of metered area. It is very difficult to determine fairly if an area should be considered as metered unless it is necessary to remove parking meters in order to install the loading zone. Since the presence or absence of parking meters does not affect the charge for loading zones, it is felt this provision should be deleted. The second problem is the area designated for the higher rate in the Central Business District. The study that set the rate in the Central Business District was generally conducted in the following manner: 1. The area bounded by Bluff Street on the north, Lancaster Avenue on the south, Pecan Street on the east and Henderson Street on the west was assumed by the staff to be the Central Business District. 2. The cost of providing, maintaining, and enforcing all loading zone spaces in that area was then determined for a one year period. 3. The number of feet of loading zone space in the defined area at the time of the study was divided into the annual cost to determine the annual cost per foot. 4. In order to allow for payments for only a portion of the year the annual cost per foot was converted to cost per foot per month. Although the study indicates that the $1.00 per foot per month is in fact the cost to the City for the loading zones, several businesses on the fringe of the area which is defined to be part of the Central Business District feel they should not be included in the higher rate area. Since the area used by the staff for the study was based primarily on judgment, the staff has reconsidered its recommendation. Based on that reconsideration, staff has concluded that police enforcement of loading zones and street repairs are generally greater in the center of the defined area and decrease on the outer edges. Any area that might be defined is subject to criticism. It is staff's present judgment that the area of higher rate is currently too large which results in some businesses being charged what could be considered an excessive rate; therefore, it is proposed that the loading zone ordinance be amended to set the loading zone rate at $1.00 per lineal foot per month or fraction thereof within the DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT: Amendment to Loading Zone PAGE q NUMBER Ordinance: Section 26-115, Code of the ;,, /16/75 TE-107 Cityof Fort Worth 2 °r 2 reduced area bounded by Bluff Street on the north, Lancaster Avenue on the south, Jones Street on the east and Burnett Street on the west. All other areas of the city would be charged $.50 per foot per month or fraction there- of. The portion of the ordinance referring to parking meter areas would be deleted and all other provisions of the current ordinance would remain in effect. In an effort to carry this proposal one step further, it is recommended that the Council authorize the City Manager to reduce the charges for loading zones for 1974-75 in those areas of the city that would be changed from the $1.00 per foot per month rate to the $.50 per foot per month rate. That would affect the charges for nine businesses and would reduce revenues by $3,260. Six of those nine businesses have already paid and it is felt the difference should be refunded or credited to the next year's charges. The other three businesses would be notified that the annual charge has been reduced and the amount that they currently owe. The reduction in revenue should pose no serious problem since the anticipated revenue from this source is currently $16,803 over the anticipated revenue for this fiscal year. Recommendation It is recommended that Section 26-115 of Division 2 of Article VI of Chapter 26 of the City Code be amended to redefine loading zone rate areas as described above, and the City Manager be authorized to reduce the charges for loading zones for 1974-75 in the area that would be changed by the ordinance from a basic charge of $1.00 per foot per month to $.50 per foot per month. RNL:ms SUBMITTED BY: DISPOSITIOPf"BY COUNCIL: PROC ED Y APPROVED �/ _ p OTHER DESCRIBE) �. ��(+ ITY SECRETARY DATE CITY MANAGER -rl