The Avalon City Council discussed the city’s vehicle code on March 4. The council took no action. Staff will come back to the council at a later time.
Assistant City Manager Joycelyn Francis began the discussion.
She said she has worked for city for two years. She said the city vehicle code was more than 20 pages long.
She described city vehicle code as convoluted and unclear.
Francis wanted to create a code that is easily readable and concise.
“That’s my biggest goal,” she said.
Mayor Anni Marshall said if you didn’t have the attorney’s writing it, it would be more clear to understand.
She apologized to City Attorney Scott Campbell.
For his part, Campbell jokingly said “offense taken”. “That’s fine, though, he said.
Francis said the California Vehicle Code uniquely gives Avalon authority to regulate the size and number of vehicles that operate on Avalon streets and allowed Avalon to prohibit some vehicles.
Background
Space doesn’t allow a word for word transcript of everything discussed. What follows is an overview.
According to Francis, the city in 2006 created a Vehicle Task Force. Francis said the Task Force’s final report recommended creating the vehicle clerk, the city Vehicle Department, established a noise ordinance, created caps for different types of vehicles.
“Since there’s been study sessions every couple of years of our vehicle ordinance,” she said.
Francis pointed at the that city had recently updated the bicycle ordinance. “We opened up the vehicle storage yard and I’m hoping that we can create a vehicle ordinance that is readable for everyone,” she said.
She showed a slide of vehicle statistics for Avalon. According to the slide, at one autoette per residential unit, there are 1,700 permits; at one autoette permit per business, there are 170 permits. For rental autoettes, there are 125 permits. For interior residential autoettes, there are 45 permits. For recreational vehicles there are 450 permits; for commercial vehicles there are 215 permits, for public service vehicles there are 120 permits and for interior commercial vehicles there are 130 permits.
Francis said there was a waitlist for the residential permits. Francis said the interior permits require approval from the vehicle hearing officer.
She summarized autoette numbers from 2020 through 2025. She said Avalon was in vehicle season at this time and wouldn’t “marry” the 2025 numbers.
According to Francis, Avalon is down to about 18% off residential properties with the blue vehicle sticker.
She brought up the questions of caps on vehicles. “A cap would be super helpful for city staff,” Francis said.
Francis put Avalon’s population at roughly 3,500 people with 2,000 residential units, 1,200 households and roughly 1,200 business licenses.
According to Francis there is a cap of 800 vehicles.
“We’re way beyond that, aren’t we?” said Marshall.
“If they were talking full size-vehicles, we’re at 860 so we’re not really too far off,” Francis said.
However, according to Francis, the definition of “vehicle” she was referring to did not match the current definition of vehicle.
Later, Francis said definitions have changed over the years. “We do recommend adding a permit process for motorcycles um and motorized scooters,” Francis said.
She said another item to consider was a definition of a micro-car. “So currently the length is limited to 120.1 inches and that’s for Scions and smart cars,” Francis said.
Francis said she looked up the definition of a micro-car. She said a Mazda Miata or a Mini Cooper was 152 inches long. “Even if we change that micro car [definition] to 135, it’s not going to open the flood gates,” Francis said.
Turning to legacy vehicles, she suggested adding language to the city code saying if you renew on time and follow the rules, your permit will stay active.
She said if you are late renewing or move off the island, the vehicle will have to comply with the code.
She said right now there were roughly 128 blue sticker vehicles that fell under the legacy vehicle category.
She brought up allowing the transfer of stickers.
Turning to overnight parking, she said there were parts of the code that didn’t :quite align with each other”.
According to one of the slides, full time Avalon residents may park overnight on the street, but nonresidents must park off-street from midnight to 6 a.m.
She said oversized vehicles have to part off-street from midnight to 6 a.m.
Francis said before you sign the sales paperwork and ship a car over to the island, make sure you check in with the vehicle clerk.
Waitlist
“Our code doesn’t really define waitlist,” Francis said.
“However, there’s a resolution from2004 I think that talks about the waitlist,” she said.
“It would be nice to codify how waitlist works so everybody’s clear, everybody’s on the same page,” Francis said.
Later, she said she had seen the vehicle clerk send out so many certified mailers to people they know aren’t on the island any more. Francis said that wasn’t efficient.
“When those certified letters come back, you cross them off the list,” Marshall said.
Francis confirmed that she was right.
City Attorney Scott Campbell said “legal” needed to look at see if any rule change is permissible that would allow people who are not currently on the waitlist to jump ahead of people who are on the waitlist. He was referring to any discussion about allowing permit holders to transfer the permits to their grandchildren.
Vehicle Clerk Rocio Hernandez said Avalon is over the 800 vehicle cap, but the Avalon Vehicle Code doesn’t specify if it includes vehicles within the city limits or also includes the interior of the Island.
According to Hernandez, one of the rules she made was that you have to come in if you hold a blue sticker. She said the first year she did that, 45 of the blue stickers could not be renewed; the ticket holders had passed away.
Francis told Marshall that she and Hernandez would take notes in the hope that when she came back to the council on this subject, she would be more concise.
Councilmember Mary Schickling raised the issue of one person co-signing for another person who is going to be the one with the sticker.
“We seriously need to figure out a way from this,” Schickling said.
She asked if the city had to require a letter from the property owner.
Francis said requiring more documentation that would be helpful now.
Gabriel Sania recommended the council consider allowing people to renew or inherit a grand parent’s full-size vehicle permit.
Marshall raised a hypothetical situation in which a grandparent, their child dies, and the grandparent can now transfer a permit to a 16-year-old grandchild.
Schickling said if the grandchild lived on the Island full time, she would think that was OK.
Councilmember Michael Ponce why vehicle owners wouldn’t put their children’s names on the waitlist.
Ponce said Avalon has a criteria that says you have to be a full-time resident.
Ponce said his sister and brother-in-law put their names on the list in 1994 and they finally got theirs, but they kept checking to see where they were on the list,” Ponce said.
“We do know what the criteria is to try to get a vehicle,” Ponce said.
“You put your name on the list,” Ponce said.
Schickling argued in favor of transferring the permit.
Ponce said he had no problem with making it easier to pass it on to somebody.
City Attorney Campbell said the code includes the word “spouse” so his law firm would have to look at whether “spouse” includes domestic partners.
Schickling was not sure about the property owner criteria was criteria part of the code. “Just because you’re in the family and you buy a house here but you bought it as an investment and you don’t live here and you rent it out and all that stuff,” Schickling said.
“I don’t think that’s criteria enough,” Schickling said.
Hernandez said she thought hearings were the best form for moving forward because the hearings have a history of everything regarding the individual.
Hernandez asked about allowing someone who has a gas autoette to move forward with an application for a commercial permit.
Councilmember Lisa Lavelle suggested a sunset date to register a gas autoette.
Schickling said if you start a new business and you already have a golf cart, you should be able to use it regardless of whether it is gas or electric. However, if you buy a new one it has to be electric.
“My big issue is parking,” said Councilmember Michael Ponce. “Is there something in there we’re going to increase the width on them also?”
Francis said the measurements for parking spaces will have to change because she thought the max was 10 feet which wouldn’t fit a 130-inch autoette.
Marshall asked about putting a moratorium on Scions.
Finance Director Matt Baker brought up the requirement that vehicle owners have to prove their old vehicle is off the Island before they can get a sticker for a new vehicle. According to Baker, his Finance team at the window gets a lot of complaints from people about that requirement.
