By Larry Barszewski
Drivers in Delray Beach had better watch their speed and where they park in the city — because parking fines increased dramatically as of Oct. 1 and cameras are now being used for speed-zone enforcement around schools.
The city agreed to increase parking fines — it is particularly concerned about cars blocking sidewalks — after the U.S. Department of Transportation sent a notice that an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint had been filed over sidewalk access. The notice required the city to take steps to address the issue.
City Manager Terrence Moore approved a staff plan that increased the fine for blocking a sidewalk to $250 per violation — the same fine charged for parking illegally in a handicapped parking space — more than seven times higher than the previous $35 fine.
“When somebody’s blocking the sidewalk, you’re making somebody in a wheelchair, a mother with a stroller, a child have to walk into the street into oncoming traffic to circumvent the vehicle. So, while I understand the fine is hefty, there’s a reason for that, and it’s to ensure compliance,” City Attorney Lynn Gelin told commissioners at their Sept. 22 meeting.
“The thinking was really just to make it consistent with the wheelchair parking violation because that, too, has ADA implications as well,” she said.
Many other parking fines have also been raised from $35 to $250, including for parking on a crosswalk, median or paved right-of-way, for parking that blocks a driveway, faces the wrong way, or that’s within a prohibited or tow zone, and for double parking.
4,945 speeding violations
As for speeding in school zones, Delray Beach is one of many cities that have begun using cameras to catch and fine violators. Boynton Beach and Boca Raton are also using such cameras, officials said.
And boy, are they working.
In a little over a month, from Aug. 10 to Sept. 18, Delray Beach issued 4,945 speeding violations caught on school zone cameras, according to a report presented to commissioners at the same meeting. Each violation results in a $100 fine for the vehicle’s owner.
The most violations — 2,407 — took place around Pine Grove Elementary School, and the second-most around St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School, where 1,397 notices of violations were produced, the report said. The two schools accounted for 77% of all notices issued during that period.
The cameras are working throughout the school day — not just before and after school when flashing lights warn of a reduced speed limit. The fines are being charged to anyone going 11 miles per hour or more over the posted speed limit — including the in-between hours while school is in session but when no lights are flashing and the regular speed limit is in force.
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