Oakmont Officials Consider Tracking Device to Curb Parking Violations

Oakmont Council is exploring ways to deter locals from violating parking regulations on Allegheny River Boulevard.

At Monday's council work session, representatives of ParkTrak, which specializes in handheld vehicular tracking devices, demonstrated equipment that would help Oakmont officers catch parking violators.

The device includes equipment that scans a car's license plate and a printer that would release the tickets. It would be able to track various parking violations, payment records, reduced or voided ticket charges, and the average parking times for spaces on the boulevard.

The unit would be best used by officers on foot. For officers to use the device from a patrol car is both ineffective and “just plain dangerous,” ParkTrak President Craig Bagdon said.

The equipment would cost $450 per month to rent one unit and $700 per month to rent two, Bagdon said. The equipment has a three year warranty.

The tracking device can scan 600 to 800 cars per hour on foot, he said, and the printer takes 13 seconds to print a ticket.

Council members are trying to decide if it's worth it to pay for this device in its attempt to curb parking violations, Oakmont Borough Manager Bruce Jamison said.

“They were just curious of the capability of the machine,” he said.

Officials also are considering allotting a three-hour parking limit on the boulevard rather than the two-hour limit currently in effect, as well as a possible tiered parking violation system.

“I think they’re a little split on which way to go,” Jamison said.

He said the decision will weigh heavily on input from the Oakmont Chamber of Commerce.

There are multiple reasons as to why parking regulations are violated, Jamison said. The borough has a problem with residents who catch the bus to work downtown and park on the boulevard because they would rather pay the Oakmont parking violation ticket than pay to park in downtown, he said.

There also are store owners and employees who park in front of their business, reducing the number of available parking spaces on the boulevard for shoppers.

It’s important to educate merchants about the regulations rather than enforcing them, Bagdon said. The regulations benefit businesses because it could create a faster customer turnover, therefore bringing in more customers into the stores, he said.

It would take a few months to get this equipment in officers’ hands, Jamison said.

“There are quite a few steps to get this thing,” he said.