§ 10.16.010. Definitions.
The following terms, wherever used or referred to in this chapter, shall have the following meanings unless otherwise defined in the Connecticut General Statutes:
"Highway" (sometimes herein referred to as a "street") means any state or other public highway, road, street, avenue, alley, driveway, parkway or place, under the control of the state or any political subdivision of the state, dedicated, appropriated or opened to public travel or other use. (See Connecticut General Statue Section 14-1(37), as amended)
"Immobilization device" means a device that prevents the vehicle from moving after a parking violation has been issued due to the existence of five accumulated and unpaid parking violations or parking violations and fines exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00) in amount, which device can be removed immediately by the operator or owner of the vehicle upon making payment by phone to the parking administrator in the manner set forth on the parking meter or on signage in the vicinity of the parking meter.
"Local authorities" includes a board of aldermen, common council, chief of police, warden and burgesses, board of selectmen or other officials having authority for the enactment or enforcement of traffic regulations within their specific towns, cities or boroughs. (See Connecticut General Statues Section 14-1(42), as amended)
"Merchant token" means a specialized promotional coin paid for and provided by local merchants to the patrons of their establishments that can be used to purchase time at a parking meter as an inducement or reward for using the merchant's establishment.
"Notice" of a parking violation means, notwithstanding the language of any other city ordinance to the contrary, a notification from the city or its agent, including the parking administrator, to the owner of the vehicle issued in the manner required for parking violations under this chapter.
"Operator" means any person operating a vehicle.
"Owner" means any person holding title to a motor vehicle, or having the legal right to register the same, including purchasers under conditional bills of sale. (See Connecticut General Statutes Section 14-1 (60), as amended)
"Parked vehicle" means a motor vehicle in a stationary position within the limits of a public highway.
"Parking" means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, on a highway, except it shall not include the temporary standing of a vehicle for the purpose of and while engaged in receiving or discharging passengers or loading or unloading merchandise or while in obedience to traffic regulations or traffic signs or signals. (See Connecticut general Statutes Section 14-297(4), as amended)
"Parking administrator" means the parking division or its consultant engaged to manage the parking system.
"Parking device" or "parking meter", as the context requires, means a single or multi-space meter, kiosk, pay station, pay-by-space, pay-by-plate, pay-by-card or other future payment system or methodology for the parking of vehicles.
"Parking division" means the director of the department of public facilities (See Connecticut general Statutes Section 7-202, as amended) or his/her designee in writing, as the administrator of the parking system with the right to enforce parking regulations pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes Section 7-204a, as amended, and the right to receive amounts remitted to the city for parking violations and other fees collected by the clerk of the superior court pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes Section 51-56a, as amended.
"Parking facilities" shall mean present and future lots, garages, parking terminals or other structures and accommodations for the parking of motor vehicles off the street or highway and open to the general public with or without charge, and off-street and on-street parking meters owned by the city wherever located, without limitation, including additions to or replacements of existing and future parking facilities and parking meters, parking meters within mixed-use facilities, including, but not limited to, the city's current and future railroad stations and their related parking facilities, subject to appropriate agreements with the state of Connecticut, and all buildings and improvements and all means of ingress and egress used to access and travel within and around the railroad station facilities.
"Parking fee" means the monetary charge imposed for the use of a parking meter on such days and within such time periods when a parking fee is required established by the city council, except for users that are specifically exempted by statute or ordinance.
"Parking manager" means the director of the department of public facilities, or his/her designee,
"Parking restriction" means the power of the traffic authority to prohibit, limit or restrict the parking of vehicles and to erect and maintain signs in each block designating the time or terms of such prohibition or restriction on any highway or thoroughfare coming under the jurisdiction of such city, town or borough. (See Connecticut general Statutes Section 14-307, as amended)
"Parking system" or "parking operation" means the city's oversight, management and coordination of a system of current and future parking facilities and the means and methods of financing the same, hardware and software systems, payment methods, permit arrangements in appropriate residential, retail, commercial, commuter and public event areas, cooperative arrangements with privately-owned parking facilities, collection and enforcement techniques, revenue-generating programs, way-finding techniques and equipment, and all other enhancements and improvements adopted by the parking division and implemented in the future in the best interest of the general public, local businesses, and visitors, taking into consideration that parking facilities may be phased initially and over time, with due consideration being given by the parking administrator for the transition of parking facilities from one to another in a manner that is fair and reasonable to the user during such transition period.
"Parking space" means either (a) any physically-defined or marked space within a parking zone that is served by a parking device, (b) any location that is served by a parking device, or (c) any right to park in a parking space created by a future payment method such as but not limited to pay-by-plate, pay-by-phone, pay-by-card, parking permit, parking meter bag or other pre-paid payment method.
"Parking violation" means the city's or its agent's issuance, by a means required by the city, the city's parking administrator, or by its parking meter provider, as determined by the city; if the means is by mail, notice of the parking violation shall be issued by depositing the parking violation into a repository of the united states postal service addressed to the vehicle operator or owner that such vehicle has been parked in violation of a provision of this chapter, the amount of the fine for such violation, and the penalty for failing to pay such fine within the time required to do so, such notice being mailed to the owner of the vehicle at his/her/its last known address contained in the records of the State of Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles.
"Parking zone" means a parking zone established by the traffic authority within the geographical boundaries of the city of Bridgeport as part of the parking system, as the same may be revised from time to time, which parking zones, the parking spaces and parking facilities within them, the means of access and egress to and from them in appropriate cases, the maintenance thereof, and the type and placement of signage within and about them, shall be managed by the parking division.
"Street" means a local highway in the city and controlled by the city that is established and exists for the use of vehicles, and including but not limited to use by pedestrians, cyclists and other users, but does not include highways or bridges under the control of the state department of transportation.
"Traffic authority" means the board of police commissioners exercising authority over traffic, traffic control signs and traffic control signals except as to state highways and bridges (See Connecticut General statutes Section 14-297 et seq., as amended, for definitions and for the powers of a traffic authority) and pursuant to city charter and this chapter.
"Vehicle" means any device suitable for the conveyance, drawing or other transportation of persons or property, whether operated on wheels, runners, a cushion of air or by any other means, but does not include devices propelled or drawn by human power or devices used exclusively on tracks. (See Connecticut General Statutes Section 14-1, as amended, for other categories of vehicles)
(Ord. dated 7/5/16 )