2 weeks ago
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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Parking tin beryllium pugnacious each implicit San Francisco. But 1 mates received a hefty good for parking successful what looked similar a tenable spot: their ain driveway.
After 7 On Your Side got involved, the mates was allowed to support parking successful beforehand of their ain home, and the $1,500 good was waived. Now, 3 years later, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is taking further enactment to marque parking little of a headache.
The communicative of Ed and Judy Craine went viral backmost successful 2022: They parked their car connected the factual pad instantly successful beforehand of their Diamond Heights home, conscionable similar they had for the past 36 years. But 1 time they got a announcement saying -- it was illegal.
"Unbelievable!" said Ed. "It was deemed amerciable due to the fact that of the beautification tendency for the neighborhood."
Yet, ironically the effect wasn't pretty. Judy says the regularisation conscionable exacerbated a parking eyesore connected their steep street.
Not agelong aft that, they got a ticket... for $1,542!
The San Francisco Planning Department issued the summons for violating a codification enacted to "ensure that beforehand yards don't crook into parking lots," noting the location did not person a store oregon cover. They threatened an further good of $250 per time if the car remained parked successful beforehand of their house.
"Absurd! It's absurd! It's similar idiosyncratic conscionable made up a rule..." Ed said. "And didn't attraction if it made immoderate sense!"
Well, it gets worse.
If you locomotion implicit to their next-door neighbors...
"They could parkland successful their driveway and not get a summons -- because they had a garage," Ed said, arsenic helium questioned however simply having a store met the 'beauty' requirements.
However, the Planning Department did springiness them an out. The mates had to beryllium the factual pad successful beforehand of their location had historically been utilized for parking. Then, they might get a waiver.
After 7 On Your Side aired their story, viewers each implicit the satellite offered to help. One viewer, a manager of an aerial photography collection, recovered a photograph from 1958 that showed a car connected the factual pad successful beforehand of the house.
The metropolis waived their fines and grandfathered successful the couple's "new" parking space.
Mayor Daniel Lurie present wants to chopped done the reddish portion of outdated rules dictating however residents tin usage their ain property.
Elizabeth Watty is the city's Director of Current Planning. She says this started arsenic a portion of Mayor Lurie's PermitSF initiative -- and became his archetypal directive arsenic mayor.
"The directive was -- however tin we bash better? How tin we make immoderate improvements astir common-sense governance?" said Watty. "It felt a spot embarrassing that this was a regularisation that we inactive had connected the books."
In different words...
"The metropolis is modernizing its rules to amend the readying codification truthful that homeowners tin parkland successful their driveway and nary longer person violations nether the readying code," said Watty.
So, this means... Ed and Judy tin parkland peacefully successful their driveway, without immoderate carport oregon costly fence.
"Hallelujah!" Ed said.
But the metropolis is inactive enforcing immoderate rules.
"You inactive cannot parkland connected the sidewalk," Watty said.
The metropolis does not let immoderate car to transverse implicit the spot line; they privation each sidewalks to beryllium wide and accessible.
Plus, the metropolis says lone up to 2 vehicles tin beryllium parked successful the driveway.
Those successful usurpation won't get disconnected easy. You're looking astatine a good of $1,725.
"It's bully to spot metropolis authorities really listening and responding," said Ed.
Even if it took 3 years.
"Why did it instrumentality truthful long?" asked 7 On Your Side's Stephanie Sierra.
"Good question.... it shouldn't of taken this long... but I would accidental nether Mayor Lurie's medication the unit has truly been connected to deliberation astir these pragmatic common-sense improvements," Watty said.
For Ed and Judy... it's amended precocious than never!
"Because to me, it's the prime of life... and 1 of those things includes being capable to park!" laughed Ed.
Right present enforcement for this is complaint-based, which the metropolis says has led to immoderate unfair attraction connected who gets cited and who doesn't. Now, Mayor Lurie's directive volition waive each existing ailment violations--relieving much than 100 residents from having to spell done what Ed and Judy did.
The amendment volition beryllium introduced aft Labor Day.
Note: The metropolis says PermitSF is moving to betterment the existent permitting process to marque it easier and customer-focused. If you person an contented you're struggling with successful your neighborhood, you tin stock your acquisition with the metropolis astatine www.sf.gov/permitsf oregon email them astatine permitSF@sfgov.org.
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