RPZ fees are going up. One West Seattle neighborhood might want to renew a bit early

| Fauntleroy | Transportation | West Seattle news

The new city budget raises the fee for Restricted Parking Zone permits by almost 50 percent. SDOT notes that one RPZ neighborhood in West Seattle might want to renew a bit early to save money:

Readers who live in the Fauntleroy neighborhood [should] know about an opportunity to save money on their Restricted Permit Zone (RPZ) permit renewal.

On January 1, 2023, the new citywide budget will take effect and the fee for a two-year RPZ permit will increase from $65 to $95. Fauntleroy (Zone 3) RPZ permits will expire on December 31, 2022. Anyone who lives in this zone and renews their permit (or requests a new permit) in 2022 will be charged the current fee ($65). After January 1, permit requests will be processed with the new fee ($95).

Discounted $10 permits will continue to be available for people who are income-eligible. People with disabled parking placards / license plates do not need to apply for a separate RPZ permit.

Permit renewals should be made through the Seattle Services Portal to ensure they are processed on-time before the fee increase takes effect. Any questions about permits can be sent to DOT_RPZRequests@seattle.gov.

RPZ permits do not guarantee a parking space – they just guarantee the right to park during restricted hours, if you find a space.

C December 19, 2022 (3:44 pm)

I live in Fauntleroy and can honestly say nobody ever gets tickets that I can see- we even have had vehicles abandoned in our street and nothing happens. Instead of charging more to people who live locally how about actually ticketing offenders??

SlimJim December 19, 2022 (5:38 pm)

I doubt that could pay for itself. The cost of having a traffic/parking officer issuing tickets would likely outstrip the revenue raised. That said, I’m for enforcement and fines where appropriate as it (theoretically) keeps people from doing illegal things, but I don’t think it’s a money-maker.

BBQ Dude December 19, 2022 (8:00 pm)

I agree. It used be a great system and the police or other enforcement would give tickets. This system has been going down hill for the last seven years. Our street is continuing to fill up with cars with no permits and there is no enforcement. We have cars left for weeks and even months. When reported, there’s no response. Now that there are no more stickers on the cars, there’s no way of knowing who lives here and I doubt anyone will check. Another Seattle system that takes your money, but doesn’t do their part. Almost seems illegal to take money and not manage the system.

BJG December 19, 2022 (8:48 pm)

Same here in Zone 35. It’s a laughable system. Pay your money and the city sends you a useless sticker. It is worth nothing without parking enforcement, so no on the $95.

EH January 2, 2023 (4:49 pm)

They did ticket us twice in Fauntelroy, and we had valid stickers, but they even checked and saw that the plate number on the sticker didn’t match our new license plates.

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