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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 7016 ` ' . ORDINANCE NO' AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING CERTAIN SPECIFIC TOW-AWAY ZONES, WHEREIN ANY VEHICLE ILLEGALLY STOPPED, STANDING, OR PARKED SHALL BE SUB- JECT TO OFFICIAL IMPOUNDMENT, BY AMENDING CHAPTER 26 OF THE FORT WORTH CITY CODE (1064), AS AMENDED, BY ADDING THERETO SECTION 26-122; BY AMENDING SECTION 26-123 THEREOF, PROVIDING THAT ANY ILLEGALLY STOPPED, 3TANDlNG, OR PARKED VEHICLE ON 8 PUBLIC STREET IS 8 NUISANCE PER 5E AND SUBJECT TO OFFICIAL IMPOUNDMENT; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS OF ORDINANCES INCONSISTENT OR IM CONFLICT HEREWITH; PRO- VIDING A SEVER88ILlTY CLAUSE; PROVIDING A PENALTY: DIRECTING PUBLICATION IN PAMPHLET FORM: DIRECTING PUBLICATION OF THE CAPTION AND PENALTY CLAUSE: AND DIRECTING THE CITY SECRETARY TO ENGROSS AND ENROLL THIS ORDINANCE BY COPYING THE CAPTION AND PENALTY CLAUSE OF SAME IN THE MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF FORT WORTH, AND BY FILING THE ORDINANCE IN THE ORDINANCE RECORDS OF SAID CITY: AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION l. That Chapter 26 of the Fort North City Code (1964), as amended, be and the same is hereby amended by the addition thereto of Section 26-122, and such section shall read as follows: "Sao, 25-122. Tow-away zones. (a) 8 person commits an offense if he stops, stands, or parks a vehicle at any place where an official sign or other traffic- control device prohibits such stopping, standing, or parking, and especially where such sign or device in addition gives notice that such place 1s a tow-away zone. (b) Each of the following is designated as a tow-away zone, effective when notice of said zone is given by an official traffic-control device, and any vehicle unlawfully otoppud^ standing, or parked in any such tow-away zone shall be removed in the manner and to the place provided by this chapter: (l) on Seventh Street, from Lamar Street to Jones Street, (2) on Sixth Street, from Jones Street to Cherry Street." - 2 - SECTION 2. That Section 26-123 of Chapter 26 of the Fort Worth City Code (1964), as amended, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: "Sec. 26-123. Impoundment of vehicles authorized. (a) Whenever the provisions of this chapter provide for the towing away and impoundment of any vehicle or other property, such service shall be performed by an independent contractor, duly authorized under contract with the City. (b) Any unredeemed impounded motor vehicle may be disposed of as provided by the Texas "abandoned motor vehicle" statute. (c) Any vehicle found stopped or standing or parked in or upon any public street in violation of any applicable traffic statute or ordinance of this chapter shall be deemed to be a nuisance per se. Any such vehicle shall be removed in the manner and to a place as authorized herein. (d) Any vehicle, or any other property, found on any public street or other public place under any circumstances here- inafter set forth shall be deemed to be a nuisance per se, and shall be removed in the manner and to the place provided by this chapter (provided, however, that such listed circum- stances shall not be deemed exclusive or prohibit such removal in any circumstances not listed): (1) When any vehicle or any other property constitutes an obstruction to traffic by being left unattended upon any bridge, viaduct, or causeway, or in any underpass or tunnel ; (2) When any vehicle is illegally parked so as to block the entrance to any private driveway; - 3 � (3) When any vehicle is found upon a street, or highway, and information has been reported to the effect that such vehicle has been stolen or complaint has been filed and a warrant thereon issued charging that such vehicle has been embezzled; (4) When there are reasonable grounds to believe that any vehicle has been abandoned; (5) When a vehicle upon a street, or highway, is so disabled that its normal operation is impossible or impractical and the person or persons in charge of the vehicle are incapacitated by reason of physical injury or other reason to such an extent as to be unable to provide for its removal or custody, or are not in the immediate vicinity of the disabled vehicle; (6) When a police officer arrests any person driving or in control of a vehicle for an alleged offense and such officer is by law required to take the person arrested immediately before a magistrate; (7) When any vehicle is parked or standing in or on any portion of street, or highway, in such a manner that the vehicle constitutes a hazard, or interferes with a normal function of a governmental agency, or by reason of any catastrophe, emergency, or unusual circumstance the safety of said vehicle is imperiled; and ( ) When any vehicle is stopped or standing or parked in a manner prohibited by Texas law or by this chapter, or when any vehicle is stopped or standing or parked in violation of any official sign or other traffic-control device where said sign or device gives notice of a tow-away zone." 4 SECTION 3 That this ordinance shall repeal every prior ordinance and provision of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964), as amended, in conflict here- with, but only insofar as the portion of such prior ordinance or provision shall be in conflict, and as to all other ordinances or provisions of the Code not in conflict herewith, this ordinance shall be and is hereby made cumulative. SECTION 4 That it is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council 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 unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality 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 without the incor- poration in this ordinance of any such unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section. SECTION 5 That any person who violates any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than One Dollar ($1 .00) nor more than Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00). SECTION 6 That the City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth is hereby directed to publish this ordinance in pamphlet form for general distribution among the public, and this ordinance as so published shall be admissible in evidence in all courts without further proof than the production of said pamphlet, as provided in Section 3, Chapter XXVI of the Charter of the City of Fort Worth. ^ . ' - . - 5 - SECTION 7 That the City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth is hereby directed to publish the caption and penalty clause of this ordinance for five days in the official newspaper of the City of Fort North, as authorized by Article 1175h-1 , Revised Civil Statutes. SECTION 8 That the City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth is hereby directed to engross and enroll this ordinance by copying the caption and penalty clause of same in the minutes of the City Council of Fort Worth, and by filing the ordinance in the ordinance records of said City. SECTION 9 That this ordinance shall take effect and he in full force and effect from and after the date of its passage and publication as pro- vided by law. APPROVED AS T0 FORM AND LEGALITY: —City Auorney ADOPTED: EFFECTIVE: LOVE City of Fort Worth, Texas FIARIFir 1 Gf'tA11AM Mayor andCouncil o u ileac o . DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT. PAGE NUMBER Exclusive Bus Lanes and 1 6 3/"'x'4 TE-77 Tow-Away Zones On May 6, 1974, the City Council approved M&C G-2405, "Traffic and .tran improvements"'. This approval authorized the implementation of the follow- ing eight transportation projects: 1. Sixth and Seventh Streets Parking Removal 2. Belknap and 'Weatherford Streets Parking Restriction 3. Throckmorton Bus Street 4. Central Business District Bus Rerouting 5. Free Downtown Bus Service 6., Bus Signs 7. Improved Bus Ro�utes and Schedules 8. Park and Ride Served by Regular Bus Due to the unique, character of the Throckmorton Bus Street Project and the required enforcement of parking restrictions on Sixth and Seventh Streets, the attached ordinances have been prepared by City staff. Both ordinances amend Chapter 26, Motor Vehicles and Traffic, City Code. One ordinance establishes the exclusive bus lanes and modifies traffic regulations on Throckmorton Street. The other ordinance authorizes the impoundment, redemption and disposal of illegally parked vehicles in the tow-away zones on Sixth and Seventh Streets as discussed in the Informal Report No. 2323 dated May, 3, 1974. Recommendation 1 It is recommended that the ordinance establishing exclusive bus lanes on Throckmorton Street be adopted. 2) It is further recommended that the ordinance authorizing tow-away zones be adopted. RNL,:ca SUBMITTED BY-. 01SPOSIT7100Y, COUNCIL: PROCESSED BY APPROVED 0 OT11" (DESCRIBE) Adopted Ordinance No. Establishing CITY SECRETARY ?ka Bus Lanes & Adopted Ord CITY MANAGER