Changes Possible For New Berlin Overnight Street Parking Code

NEW BERLIN, WI — Overnight street parking in New Berlin is up for discussion at Tuesday's Committee of the Whole meeting. Physical parking permits could turn into an online database with proposed code changes.

The Police Department and City's Attorney's Office requested that and a few other changes to the New Berlin Municipal Code Section 261-4(D) in a letter dated Oct. 11. Physical parking permits are the current standard, but with that, officers sometimes have difficulty seeing permits, and disputes of if a permit was properly displayed can arise in court, NBPD and the City DA wrote in the requested action statement.

Permits are also occasionally transferred between vehicles and owners, the statement said.

A proposed repeal and recreation of Section 261-4(D) of the New Berlin Municipal Code would turn physical parking permits into an electronic recording of the permittee's contact information, vehicle description, license plate and duration of the permit.

The requested action statement said the main changes that would arise include:

• Permits would become specific to a single vehicle and physical permits would go away. Officer time in court would be cut down in cases of permit holders failing to display their permits.
• Police would be able to grant three-day temporary permissions to multi-family or single-family residents for driveway improvements. Most residents seek three-day permits, according to police clerks, the statement said.

Snow emergencies would still affect which streets parking permits can be issued on. Some streets may not have any permits issued at all if doing so would create a hazard, the proposed ordinance read.

The proposed code changes are on the agenda for the New Berlin Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday. Immediately following the Committee of the Whole meeting, the Common Council will have a chance to discuss or vote on the proposal. Both meetings are happening via Zoom.

More info:

Committee of the Whole

Common Council