FCTA resolution regarding Community Parking Districts

Resolution supporting a car tax exemption for residents affected by Fairfax County Community Parking Districts

Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance Board of Directors

Approved June 6, 2006

WHEREAS the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has chosen to selectively ban the parking of some lawful personal property on certain public streets of the County; and

WHEREAS some of the residents of these "Community Parking Districts" will incur large personal costs that most other similarly situated taxpayers in the County will not have to bear; and

WHEREAS, these disenfranchised County residents are still required to pay the "car tax" on this property despite being subjected to unequal parking regulations,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors should enact a car tax exemption for personal property that has been prohibited (by virtue of a County-enacted Community Parking District) from parking on the nearest state street offering public parking to a person's residence.

Several years ago, the General Assembly gave Fairfax County and several other nearby Northern Virginia localities the power to ban on-street parking of campers & trailers. Instead of considering an equal application of part or all of this power across Fairfax County after an Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) study, the Board of Supervisors proceeded to create a program called "Community Parking Districts ("CPDs") whereby homeowner associations (HOA) or other entities or persons could ask the County to establish a CPD. Upon such a request, the County draws a petition area map that selects some, but not all, of the nearby addresses to be included in a petition drive to get a hearing. This is unlike a Residential Permit Parking District (RPPD) where actual need to ration parking is required to restrict neighborhood parking, generally near high schools and subway stations. A CPD merely requires that 60% of your neighbors agree to vote the others’ personal property off the island. The Supervisors have approved every one of these proposals without any FCDOT study or a zoning board hearing; no staff recommendation is even asked for! See the CPD ordinance by searching for Fairfax County parking laws (Appendix M) at http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=10051&sid=46.

The CPD designation process is unfair to taxpayers and is probably a violation of equal protection of the laws. Instead of holding a hearing on the merits of an across-the-board County ban on some of the largest campers and trailers, the Supervisors move against one small pocket at a time with a complete ban! They do this without any rational factual discussion of actual need. Divide and Conquer!

Recently, Orange Hunt resident Greg Hotz was voted off the island by his neighbors even though he has parked a camper in front of his house for the last 10 years, and, a neighboring HOA opposed the CPD as likely to cause down stream parking problems! CPDs have only been enacted in a few supervisor's districts (Springfield, Lee, & Mt. Vernon for sure) - see live video of the BoS hearing at http://fairfaxcounty.gov/cable/channel16/vod.htm - click on the 5 June meeting, and then to "Public Hearings - then scroll your video bar to about 2/3 to the right - you are looking for the Orange Hunt CPD hearing, followed by the Stone Creek hearing - the Supervisors just approve these CPDs no matter how much the public shows up to protest!

Communities and Supervisors over-sell the need for a CPD. Existing ordinances already ban the parking of most commercial vehicles on public streets in residentially zoned districts, and, that parking of unattended devices, even cars, for more than 10 days subjects the device to ticketing and towing by the police if they receive a complaint!