ANC 2F Residents Can Finally Apply for Visitor Parking Permits

• May 6, 2014

by Lark Turner

Street parking in ANC 2F.

After months of debate, ANC 2F residents are now eligible to apply for visitor parking passes (VPPs).

The coveted permits won’t last long; the District is working on a different system for VPPs that will be unveiled at the beginning of the next fiscal year, meaning the VPPs issued to ANC 2F residents, who must opt in to receive them, will expire Sept. 30, 2014.

In previous years, the city sent out visitor parking passes in the mail to every DC resident that lived in a residential parking permit-eligible home. At the end of last year, the city proposed a new opt-in policy, where residents would have to apply for a pass online or in person. But that new opt-in program was put on hold when the City Council raised concerns about it, and the District decided to extend the old mail-out program for another year. Passes were then mailed out to residents in Zones 1, 3, 4, 5 and parts of 6, while Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans’ opposition to the plan, based on feedback from ANCs in the ward, meant residents in 2 were excluded.

ANC 2F eventually decided it would like residents to have access to VPPs and worked with DDOT to figure out a process for residents to get them, which is why access to the temporary program is being granted now. DDOT decided that legislation didn’t forbid residents from getting VPPs. Rather, they believe it just forbade Zone 2 residents from getting a VPP in the mass mail-out. In April, ANC 2F decided to go ahead with an opt-in solution and delay a final decision on the passes until September.

Though the passes are intended mostly for daytime use by caregivers or contractors, or short-term use by a resident’s visitors, many say they are frequently abused. They can be used for everyday parking by two-car households, rented out to people living in a different zone or otherwise misused. Because of extremely tight parking in Logan Circle and the rest of Zone 2, continuing the policy of blanket mailing passes to all residents didn’t sit well with most ANCs in the area. When the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) continued its mass mailing program in fall 2013, Zone 2 residents weren’t included. The District still sent out more than 100,000 passes.

The passes don’t let out-of-staters off the hook from Registration of Out of State Automobiles (ROSA) regulations; they still have to apply for a DC license and permit within 30 days of moving here. The Department of Public Works will warn and eventually ticket ROSA violators who don’t apply for the passes, at least in over-parked areas like Logan Circle. ROSA enforcement in less-trafficked neighborhoods is spotty at best.

Correction: A previous version of this story implied that other ANCs in Zone 2 had opted into the VPP program; in fact, only ANC 2F has. We’ve made the correction and added some details about the Council legislation excluding Zone 2 from the blanket mailing program.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/anc_2f_residents_can_finally_apply_for_visitor_parking_permits/8451