Where can I park?

Typically, when you think about parking tickets in Charleston, you think of downtown Charleston. However, the City of Charleston is much larger than downtown.

 

The entirety of Daniel Island falls within the City of Charleston; therefore, the city has jurisdiction to enforce parking and traffic laws on Daniel Island.

 

Unlike downtown, most of DI is residential. There are no parking meters, and there are no residential parking districts anywhere in the city other than downtown.

 

DI does not have the same traffic and parking issues as the city does downtown, so there are some statutes and municipal codes that do not apply to DI at all.

 

The city’s ultra-bright yellow parking citation highlights how parking downtown is different from parking on DI.

 

There are six violations enumerated on the city’s parking citation, and only half of them can be enforced on DI.

 

The enumerated violations are as follows:

 

1. Meter Violation - $14 fine (does not apply on DI)

 

2. Meter Feeding - $14 fine (does not apply on DI)

 

3. Residential Parking Overtime - $25 fine (does not apply on DI)

 

4. Loading Zone - $45 fine (very limited on DI)

 

5. Parking Wrong Side - $22 fine (most streets on DI only allow parking on one side)

 

6. Prohibited Zone - $45 fine (broad term and can apply to numerous violations)

 

There is an additional catch-all, titled “Other,” contained on the city’s parking citation which allows the officer issuing the ticket to write the violation onto the citation.

 

An example of what could be written into this “Other” section would be a handicap parking violation.

 

You have 30 days from the date the parking citation is issued to file an appeal and challenge the citation. Additionally, if you do not pay the citation within 30 days, then your fine will be increased pursuant to the amount listed on the citation.

 

I am sure you are wondering what a “Prohibited Zone” is. The list contained within the statute is two pages long, so I will only point out a few of the violations that would fall within the definition of a “Prohibited Zone”.

 

1. Unless you are momentarily dropping off or picking up passengers, then it is a violation to park “at any place where official traffic-control devices prohibit standing.” For the purpose of this article, a traffic control device is any sign, signal, marking, or device regulating traffic and parking on the city’s streets.

 

2. Unless you are momentarily dropping off or picking up passengers, then it is a violation to park “within 30 feet upon the approach to any flashing signal, stop sign, yield sign, or traffic-control signal located at the side of a roadway.” 

 

The Department of Traffic and Transportation handles all of the traffic and parking related matters for the city, which includes responsibility for traffic signs and traffic pavement markings.  In fact, DTT has a Signs and Markings Crew which follows a regular maintenance schedule for all areas within the city. Daniel Island and Cainhoy are serviced in July and November.  

 

As you can imagine, to ensure the safety of all persons on city roadways, uniformity is of paramount importance. A reflection of these strict standards can be found on DTT’s website and is called T&T’s Standard Drawings.

 

Notably, not all of the pavement markings on DI conform to T&T’s Standard Markings, and it begs the question as to whether these pavement markings were added by the builders/developers as new homes were built on the island, and not approved by DTT.

 

If pavement markings are not either approved by DTT or placed by DTT, then there is a statute within Title 56 that may make these pavement markings void. If there are specific signs or markings you have questions about, then DTT is the best option for obtaining information as to the validity of the signs or markings.

 

Chris Mingledorff and Michael Patterson are attorneys with Mingledorff & Patterson LLC on Daniel Island. For more information, go to mptrial.com.