I have seen more and more COJ parking enforcement activity on private property as of late.
Private parking garages, private business parking in the burbs, etc.
Living up north, enforcement was only allowed on private parking areas if a fire lane or handicap space was violated, otherwise they only cited you if it was considered public space.
To me a private parking garage is not "public" space.
When I see a COJ officer surfing a private garage looking for expired tags it doesnt seem right.
I asked one officer downtown ticketing in a private garage how he does it and his response was, "if you park anywhere in Jacksonville, I can cite you".
Oh? How is that different than my driveway? My garage? My antique car in storage?
Driving with expired tags is a moving violation, but parking your car with them is not. Trying to figure out how that works in COJ.
Actually I believe having no tags or valid registration and having the vehicle in the public view makes it a violation under Municipal Code Compliance. In fact, they were trying to pass a law that made backing into your driveway illegal so that they could easily drive around and insure you were not parking an "abandoned or unlicensed" car on your property. The city gets to fine you for that.
According to Florida Statutes, traffic and parking ordinances can be enforced "wherever the public has the right to travel by motor vehicle."
That generally means shopping centers and publicly accessible garages, but not spuwho's driveway. The City can also (and often does) enforce parking laws in private office parks with the property owner's permission.
It is a moving violation to have an expired tag, or it can be written as a parking violation instead. The City's Parking Enforcement folks can write parking tickets only while JSO officers can write either.
Many expired tags are a symptom of some other problem with the driver - suspended license, no insurance, unpaid child support, etc.
I work at a large suburban office complex and I see JSO cars cruising through the lot all the time writing tickets for expired tags.
Several years ago, I went with a friend to the Borders on Southside Blvd. We were in there maybe 30-45 minutes and came out to find a ticket on his windshield.
FYI on expired tags. Though it says you have 30 days to renew after your birthday, you can and will get a ticket during those 30 days. I once got a ticket 3 or 4 days after my birthday while I was going in to renew.
Advisory Legal Opinion - AGO 96-53
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Number: AGO 96-53
Date: July 12, 1996
Subject: Police enforcement of ordinances on private property
Mr. Michael S. Davis
St. Petersburg City Attorney
Post Office Box 2842
St. Petersburg, Florida 33731
RE: MUNICIPALITIES--ORDINANCES--LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS--PRIVATE PROPERTY--enforcement of municipal ordinances on private residential property by municipal law enforcement officers. ss. 316.006, 316.008, Fla. Stat.
Dear Mr. Davis:
You have asked for my opinion on substantially the following question:
Does Chapter 316, Florida Statutes, authorize a municipal police officer or parking enforcement specialist to issue a traffic citation for vehicles parked on private residential property (including, but not limited to, a private residential lawn) in violation of municipal ordinance?
In sum:
A municipal police officer or parking enforcement specialist does not have the authority under Chapter 316, Florida Statutes, to issue a traffic citation for vehicles parked on private residential property in violation of municipal ordinance since such property is not a thoroughfare or street upon which the public has a right to travel by motor vehicle. However, vehicles improperly parked on private residential property which has been posted may be towed from that property at the property owner's or lessee's request pursuant to section 715.07, Florida Statutes, and a lien imposed for towing and storage under section 713.78, Florida Statutes. Unauthorized vehicles may be towed from single-family residential property at the owner's request and the property need not be posted pursuant to section 715.07, Florida Statutes.
According to your letter, the City of St. Petersburg is experiencing problems with people parking on residential lawns in violation of a city ordinance. This is a particular problem for single-family residential property owners and has prompted your opinion request.
The Florida Uniform Traffic Control Law, Chapter 316, Florida Statutes, was enacted "to make uniform traffic laws to apply throughout the state and its several counties and uniform traffic ordinances to apply in all municipalities."[1] In order to ensure that the provisions of Chapter 316, Florida Statutes, are given uniform application throughout the state, section 316.002, Florida Statutes, provides that "t is unlawful for any local authority to pass or to attempt to enforce any ordinance in conflict with the provisions of this chapter."[2]
However, section 316.002, Florida Statutes, expressly states:
"The Legislature recognizes that there are conditions which require municipalities to pass certain other traffic ordinances in regulation of municipal traffic that are not required to regulate the movement of traffic outside of such municipalities. Section 316.008 enumerates the area within which municipalities may control certain traffic movement or parking in their respective jurisdictions."
Thus, section 316.008(1), Florida Statutes, recognizes that the provisions of Chapter 316 do not prevent local authorities from "[r]egulating or prohibiting stopping, standing, or parking" on streets and highways under their jurisdiction.
This office has stated that the provisions in Chapter 316, Florida Statutes, are enforceable on private property only if the public may travel by motor vehicle on such property.[3] This conclusion is based on section 316.640, Florida Statutes, which provides, in part, that municipalities must enforce state traffic laws on all municipal streets and highways "wherever the public has the right to travel by motor vehicle."
It is the availability of the area or place for travel and the right of general and common use which makes certain private property subject to public control pursuant to Chapter 316, Florida Statutes. Thus, this office has determined that municipalities have enforcement authority with respect to traffic violations and accidents occurring in shopping centers and parking lots which are considered to be "streets and highways" upon which the public has the right to travel by motor vehicle.[4] However, no authority to enforce Chapter 316, Florida Statutes, exists on private residential property which may not be used by the public for motor vehicle traffic.[5]
You have specifically cited section 316.1945(3), Florida Statutes, as authority for your assertion that a municipal police officer may enforce an ordinance prohibiting vehicle parking on private residential property such as lawns. The statute provides that:
"A law enforcement officer or parking enforcement specialist who discovers a vehicle parked in violation of this section or a municipal or county ordinance may:
(a) Issue a ticket form as may be used by a political subdivision or municipality to the driver; or
(b) If the vehicle is unattended, attach such ticket to the vehicle in a conspicuous place, except that the uniform traffic citation prepared by the department pursuant to s. 316.650 may not be issued by being attached to an unattended vehicle."
The statute also provides that "[t]he uniform traffic citation prepared by the department pursuant to s. 316.650 may not be issued for violation of a municipal or county parking ordinance." The statutory section specifically prohibits stopping, standing, or parking in particular places such as on a crosswalk or in an intersection.[6]
Thus, to the extent that a municipality or county has adopted an ordinance regulating parking on a publicly traveled street or highway, a municipal police officer may ticket a vehicle not in compliance with the local regulation. Such was the case in Attorney General's Opinion 83-86 in which this office concluded that a municipality was authorized to enact an ordinance allowing pest control vehicles exceeding 10,000 pounds which could not enter residential driveways without damaging the driveways to make temporary stops on city streets for purposes of performing pest control services on the adjacent residential properties from such vehicle. As was noted in that opinion, section 316.008(1), Florida Statutes, authorizes a municipality, within the reasonable exercise of the police power, to regulate or prohibit "stopping, standing, or parking" on streets and highways under its jurisdiction.[7] It is these local regulations which section 316.1945(3), Florida Statutes, authorizes a police officer or parking enforcement specialist to enforce.
Therefore, it is my opinion that a municipal police officer or parking enforcement specialist does not have the authority under Chapter 316, Florida Statutes, to issue a traffic citation for vehicles parked on private residential property in violation of municipal ordinance unless the public has a right to travel by motor vehicle on such property.
However, I would note that section 715.07, Florida Statutes, authorizes the owners of private property upon which vehicles have been parked without permission to have these vehicles towed from their property. Section 713.78, Florida Statutes, recognizes that a lien for towing and storage services may be imposed against the vehicle by the towing company for these services.
Section 715.07, Florida Statutes, authorizes
"[t]he owner or lessee of real property . . . [to] cause any vehicle parked on such property without his permission to be removed by a person regularly engaged in the business of towing vehicles, without liability for the costs of removal, transportation, or storage or damages caused by such removal, transportation, or storage[.]"[8]
The statute imposes certain requirements on the towing companies responding to such a request for removal.[9] Thus, the towed vehicle must be stored at a site within a certain distance of the property on which it was parked and the person or firm towing or removing the vehicle must, within 30 minutes of completion of the removal, notify the appropriate law enforcement agency of the location of the vehicle and provide a description of the vehicle.
Section 715.07, Florida Statutes, requires that a notice that unauthorized vehicles will be towed must be posted on certain private property but "property appurtenant to and obviously a part of a single-family residence" is exempt from this requirement.[10] Thus, the owner or lessee of a single-family residence[11] is not required to post his or her property in order to have unauthorized vehicles which have been parked there towed or removed at the vehicle owner's expense.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Butterworth
Attorney General
http://www.myfloridalegal.com/ago.nsf/printview/23BC2799DEA7F16E85256368006356E4
Quote from: strider on September 08, 2016, 04:56:36 PM
FYI on expired tags. Though it says you have 30 days to renew after your birthday, you can and will get a ticket during those 30 days. I once got a ticket 3 or 4 days after my birthday while I was going to renew.
Your tag expires on your birthday.
The code enforcement officer you talked to doesn't understand what he's talking about. It's ultra vires for a municipality to write parking tickets on private property without permission. The operative factor being without permission. What's probably happening is the garage owners, or Borders, or whoever, have given COJ permission to conduct enforcement. Anecdotal confirmation of this is that COJ is generally so cheap with everything except shoveling money at Khan, that there's no way they'd pay $5 for admission several times a day to cruise each downtown parking garage. That tells you they're getting in there with permission.
A co-worker recently was cited for expired tags by COJ in private parking area. Being a resident of St Johns County he took the ticket to court where the judge tossed it for lack of jurisdiction.
BTW, I am not looking for loopholes in the laws, tags are tags and should be maintained. I am just not used to seeing parking enforcement surfing private property.
Quote from: acme54321 on September 08, 2016, 11:25:04 PM
Quote from: strider on September 08, 2016, 04:56:36 PM
FYI on expired tags. Though it says you have 30 days to renew after your birthday, you can and will get a ticket during those 30 days. I once got a ticket 3 or 4 days after my birthday while I was going to renew.
Your tag expires on your birthday.
Yes it does. However the way the renewal is worded, I suspect a lot of people think they will be fine if they renew within the 30 day window and pay that extra $10.00. Most probably are and may do it every year, however, you can and some do, get that ticket.
The language is ambiguous, basically warning you that after 30 days the failure to renew is a misdemeanor. What it should also say is that, even before that, it's a civil infraction for which you'll have to pay a penalty. I've seen that language and as with pretty much anything written by a government agency, it's not clear.