Baker City taking aggressive stance on illegal street parking and “dead storage” vehicles.

BAKER CITY – In a recent social media post, the Baker City Police Department announced it would be taking a harder stance on various forms of illegal street parking this fall. In particular, “dead storage” vehicles, which the BCPD says include, “vehicles under repair, unregistered vehicles, or vehicles with other obvious signs they are not being operated,” will be a primary focus.

Under Oregon law, any vehicle considered dead storage may be towed by a city in as little as 24 hours, with the Baker City ordinance allowing vehicles to be towed ten days after notice is given. Vehicles deemed an immediate hazard by an officer can be towed immediately. Other reminders to vehicle owners include:

• Parking on public streets for over 72 hours is prohibited and can result in a citation and the vehicle being towed.
• Vehicles eligible for overtime citations include standard cars, RVs, boats, trailers and any other vehicle not actively being used for transportation.
• Moving a vehicle to avoid overtime parking requires the vehicle to be moved from the entire block it is currently on.

The BCPD asks drivers to find alternative sites to parking on city streets, writing in the post:

“Extended parking of vehicles on our city streets creates additional hazardous conditions for not only our City Public Works trying to plow snow off the streets, but for our street sweepers, and our drivers and citizens in general. Officers will be working in conjunction with our code enforcement to tag, cite, and tow vehicles that are in violation of City parking ordinances.  Please help us by moving those vehicles before enforcement action is taken.”

Questions regarding the city’s parking ordinance can be directed to either Code Enforcement Officer Mike Flynn or Sergeant Mike Regan at (541) 524-2014.

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Elkhorn Media Group