Parking and Traffic Regulations
Section V Penalties
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A. General
Misuse of parking permits or gate cards, or repeated or serious violations of these regulations, may result in revocation of campus parking privileges and/or criminal prosecution. Misuse of parking permits includes the use of parking permits bought with university funds to accommodate personal parking.
B. Duty to Report
Any person receiving a parking and traffic citation shall respond to PTS, 1050 Regent Drive, Boulder, before closing of the fifth business day after the date of issuance of the citation to submit payment of fine or appeal. Nonpayment of outstanding fines may result in the loss of parking privileges.
C. Fines
- Schedules for parking violations, fines, and sanctions are available at the PTS office and on the PTS web site.
- Penalties: Parking citations must be paid or appealed within five business days of issue date. Failure to pay citation fines prior to the close of the PTS business office by the fifth business day will cause a minimum $5 penalty assessment to the initial citation fine amount (see citation for details). Additional $5 penalties will be assessed in each PTS billing thereafter, to a maximum of double the initial citation fine amount (unless otherwise stated on the citation). For example, an initial citation fine of $20 will increase to a maximum of $40 unless otherwise stated.
- Parking citation fines may be transferred to the Billing and Receivables System (BRS) for persons who have an active account with the BRS under the following circumstances:
a. The fine recipient may request that citations be transferred to
their BRS account at the time of impound or receipt of a
citation for “failure to pay university citations.” Transfer is
subject to BRS & PTS policies.
b. Unpaid citation fines with penalty fines added may be
transferred to the BRS account after 10 business days of the
citation’s issue according to the billing and collection
procedures of PTS. - Parking citation fine recipients should not assume that fines have been transferred to the BRS account. Confirmation of fine transfers should be made via personal contact with PTS. All fines not transferred to the BRS remain payable to PTS and subject to its collection policies.
D. Towing and Impounding
Vehicles may be towed and impounded for any violation listed in these regulations or for any accumulation of $50 or more in unpaid parking fines. The accumulated fines and the resulting tow and storage charges shall be reconciled before the vehicle is released. Failure to respond to citations in the amount of $50 or more will be deemed a waiver of any right to notice or hearing before the vehicle is impounded. The university contracts with a private firm for towing and impounding of motor vehicles.
- The vehicle may be released at the scene when all the following conditions are met:
a. If a tow truck has been called, all applicable charges are paid
to the tow driver by the driver and/or owner of the violating
vehicle, and
b. The driver and/or owner agree to immediately accompany the
enforcement person to PTS for payment of any outstanding
citations, and
c. The driver and/or owner correct any current violations. - The vehicle may be released from impoundment if the driver meets all the following conditions:
a. Payment of all outstanding university citations at PTS,
b. Receipt of a release form from PTS,
c. Proof to the Parking and Transportation office that she/he is
the registered owner or authorized driver of the vehicle
(according to PTS guidelines), and
d. Payment of all applicable towing charges to the tow company. - A Scofflaw Tow Penalty Fine is assessed when:
a. The operator of a vehicle about to be towed for a scofflaw
violation avoids the tow by fleeing the scene, or
b. The operator of a vehicle that is about to be towed for a
scofflaw violation agrees to accompany the parking
enforcement officer to PTS to pay outstanding fines but
thereafter fails to pay such fines within five business days of
the near tow.
E. Citation Appeals
- General: The parking citation appeal process is intended to provide an objective forum for the presentation of factual exculpatory information regarding the receipt of a parking citation. Information presented by the appellant must be relevant and substantive. That a violation occurred for only a short period of time, by itself, is not enough to substantiate a citation appeal.
- Appeals: Citations issued pursuant to these regulations may be appealed subject to the requirements described in this Section (V-E).
a. Appeals must be filed before the closing of the PTS office on
the fifth business day after the date of the issuance of the
citation.
b. Appeal filings must be made in writing on the prescribed form
available at the PTS office.
c. Appeal filings must contain all of the relevant and substantive
information the petitioner wishes to have considered during the
appeals review(s), and the information presented must fit
within the criteria for appeals as defined in Section V-E-4
below.
d. Upon receipt of an appeal filing by the PTS office, citation
penalty fine assessments against the unpaid citation fine
balance are stayed until an appeal ruling is made. - Levels of Appeal:
a. Written citation appeals are first reviewed and ruled on by the
citation appeals officer. Citation appeals officers may be
members of the university community.
b. If necessary, an appeals referee, an attorney licensed by the
state of Colorado and not affiliated with the university, hears
a further appeal of a citation appeals officer decision. Requests
for hearings before the appeals referee must be submitted in
writing to the PTS office within five business days after a
citation appeals officer decision. The petitioner must be
present for the appeals referee hearing. The appeal referee’s
decision is final. - Appeal Criteria:
a. You have substantial and valid evidence that the parking
violation was not committed.
b. Though the violation charged was committed, you have
substantial and valid evidence that it occurred due to
circumstances beyond your control. (For the purposes of this
section, neither the fact that the parking violation was of
short duration, nor the fact that all the designated parking
spaces in an area were occupied at the time of the citation, is,
by itself, sufficient grounds for appeal.)
c. The violation occurred under circumstances where the
appellant believed he or she was not committing a violation,
and where a reasonable and prudent person under the same or
similar circumstances would have acted in the same manner as
the appellant. (For the purposes of this section, neither the
fact that the parking violation was of short duration, nor the
fact that all the designated parking spaces in an area were
occupied at the time of the citation, is, by itself, sufficient
grounds for appeal.)
d. It is the responsibility of the appellant to provide evidence
sufficient to justify the upholding of an appeal based upon
sections V-E-4(a), (b), or (c) above. - Frivolous and Groundless Appeal Defined (applies to appeals referee hearings only): A frivolous and groundless appeal is one that lacks substantial justification and is not supported by a rational argument based on evidence or law. An appeal may also be frivolous if brought in bad faith. Bad faith includes conduct that is arbitrary, vexatious, abusive, or disrespectful of truth, accuracy, or the tribunal in which the appeal is being heard.
- Fine Assessment, Frivolous and Groundless Appeals:
a. During appeal referee hearings, parking citation appellants must
present information consistent with the appeal application
criteria specified in Section V-E-4 of these regulations.
b. The appeal referee may determine upon review that the
information provided by an appellant during appeal fails to meet
the criteria specified in Section V-E-4 of these regulations, and
further:
c. That the information provided by, or the conduct of, the
appellant during appeal falls within the context of the definition
provided in Section V-E-5 of these regulations regarding
frivolous and groundless appeals. In such a case the appeal
referee may make a determination that an appeal is frivolous
and groundless.
d. Upon the appeal referee’s determination of the presentation of
a frivolous and groundless appeal, the appellant may be
assessed a fine in addition to the outstanding citation fine
amount. - Failure to Appear: Failure to appear before the appeals referee at the scheduled time without notifying the PTS office before its closing on the previous business day may result in the assessment of a fine to the appellant in addition to the outstanding fine amount of the appealed citation.
F. Revocation of Permits
- Commission by permit holders of serious or repeated violations of CU-Boulder Parking and Traffic Regulations may result in revocation of permit-parking privileges. For the purpose of this section, serious or repeated violations are defined as:
a. Failure to pay applicable permit fees.
b. Falsification of permit application information.
c. Counterfeiting, defacing, or altering without authorization of
CU-Boulder PTS any CU-Boulder parking permit, gate card, or
parking debit card, or participating in or permitting such
counterfeiting, defacing, or altering.
d. Issuance of six (6) or more citations within any four-month
period to any vehicle registered to a CU-Boulder permit holder,
for which the fines remain outstanding and the permit holder
has not made arrangements to appeal or pay.
e. Issuance of 18 or more citations within any 12-month period to
any vehicle registered to a CU-Boulder permit holder, except
those citations pending appeal or those voided after appeal.
f. Displaying, using, or allowing others to display or use any CU-
Boulder parking permit, gate card, or parking debit card that
has been reported lost or stolen.
g. Selling, giving, or otherwise transferring any CU-Boulder parking
permit to a person or vehicle, or permitting the use of a CU-
Boulder parking permit by a person or vehicle by whom or for
which such use of the permit is not authorized by CU-Boulder
PTS. - Permit revocation terms shall be no less than four (4) months and no more than 12 months. Retention of the permit allocation assignments by faculty/staff revokees is at the discretion of the
responsible department. - Authority to revoke permit privileges is vested in the parking appeals hearing referee. Appeals may be made to the Parking Management Advisory Committee (PMAC).
a. PTS shall make recommendations to revoke permit privileges to
the parking appeals hearing referee based upon evidence of
the existence of one or more of the conditions specified in
Section V-F-1 (a-g) above.
b. The permit holder shall be given written notice of the
recommendation for permit revocation at least 14 days prior to
the scheduled revocation hearing date. The notice to the
permit holder shall list those violations that are the basis of the
revocation recommendation. It shall be the responsibility of the
permit holder to notify PTS of any conflicts with hearing times,
and to request rescheduling of the hearing.
c. Hearings:
i. Determination of justification for permit revocation shall be
made subsequent to a review of PTS revocation
recommendation and information provided by the permit
holder during a hearing presided over by the appeals hearing
referee.
ii. Appeals of hearing referee revocation decisions shall be
made to the PMAC.
iii. Failure to appear at the scheduled hearing time may result
in permit revocation.
d. Appeal of permit revocations:
i. Appeals of referee revocation decisions shall be made to the
PMAC.
ii. Appeals of permit revocations must be filed with PTS within
ten (10) days after the decision to revoke by the appeals
referee.
iii. Appeal request must be written.
iv. Initiation of an appeal stays the revocation until the appeal
hearing before the PMAC, or failure to appear at the hearing
by the appellant. - Vehicles parked in PTS controlled parking areas and displaying revoked permits as authorization to park are subject to citation and impoundment.
