Wilmington announces ‘user-friendly’ parking and ticketing reforms

The changes are intended to make parking and ticketing in the City of Wilmington more transparent, according to city leaders, while providing needed parking for residents and businesses.

Wilmington Mayor James Baker announced the additional reforms Friday. The city’s parking and ticketing laws, regulations and policies have been under review since last year when Delaware blogger Ken Grant launched a parking blog recounting people’s horror stories about parking and alleged ticket quotas in Wilmington. The city says public concerns about quotas “were fueled by misperceptions,” adding the city does not rely on tickets for additional revenue.

“Today’s announcements and other parking and ticketing reforms announced previously this year should demonstrate to citizens that government officials are listening to legitimate concerns and will take action when necessary to reform Wilmington’s parking and ticketing programs,” said Mayor Baker.

Parking/Ticketing Reforms

Mayor Baker announced several changes Friday, some of which you can read about below.

A proposed discount for early payment of parking tickets. The mayor says he’ll send city council legislation establishing $10 off to any citizen who pays the $40 ticket within 48 hours after receipt. The discount, however, only applies to payments made in person at the Redding City/County Building on French Street and online.
As of April 1, the city stopped issuing tickets to vehicles parked in a street cleaning zone once the street cleaning process is completed. Prior to this change, vehicles had to wait two hours before they were allowed to park in a street sweeping zone. Street sweeping season began April 1 and runs through Oct. 31.
As of April 2, Wilmington’s Office of Civil Appeals began mailing an acknowledgement letter to citizens who have chosen to protest or appeal a ticket within seven days of the appeals office receiving an appeal. If you don’t receive a confirmation letter, you should call the Office of Civil Appeals at 302-576-3809. Additionally, the Office of Civil Appeals is operating on a 30-day turnaround in an effort to process appeals more efficiently.
A city pilot program called “On Vehicle Notification,” or OVN, will let drivers know when they’re approaching the $200 ticket threshold resulting in their cars being “booted.” The city has begun placing a warning notice on cars.
The city has made its first “Notification of Parking Ticket” letter clearer by mailing the letter to the vehicle owner within seven days of receipt, stating the reason, date and time of the violation and clearly listing available options.
New informational labels for will soon be applied to all parking meters throughout the city. The new stickers will inform citizens of the two-hour parking limitation at meters on Monday through Friday; information about enforcement not occurring on Saturdays and Sundays; parking rates; hours that parking enforcement officers are on patrol; and information about how to report a broken meter.

The city says it has posted a more specific list of parking regulations on its website.