THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, December 1, 1994             TAG: 9412010437
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                     LENGTH: Medium:   86 lines

WOMAN POSTS VICTORY AGAINST BEACH PARKING LAW CLAIMING THERE WAS A FLAW IN THE OCEANFRONT ORDINANCE, SHE WON DISMISSAL OF 23 TICKETS.

A community activist won a quick victory in traffic court Wednesday by arguing that a new Oceanfront parking ordinance may not have been properly enacted.

Brenda McCormick, president of Mothers Inc., a private charity that aids the city's homeless and needy, convinced Traffic Court Judge R.L. Simpson to dismiss 23 parking tickets she received before September 1993 by saying that a majority of the residents on her street did not agree to voluntary night-time parking restrictions.

But her success may be an isolated case, because the law was changed in August to make restrictions mandatory and applicable to an 80-block area from Laskin Road to Norfolk Avenue. Before that, the parking restrictions applied only to individual blocks in which 51 percent or more of the residents agreed to the restrictions.

McCormick's victory also came one day before the city's parking administrator is to present the city manager with final recommendations on a revised parking plan.

The plan now bans non-residents from parking on most residential streets from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Residents are exempt from the restrictions if they display special residential permits in the windows of their vehicles.

The move three months ago was prompted by several factors, including longstanding complaints from residents that tourist parking was often out of control and that unrestricted parking encouraged late-night partying that degraded the quality of Oceanfront life.

The city also hoped to encourage use of recently completed municipal parking lots and to cut down on Oceanfront traffic congestion, which is especially acute during major holidays.

But McCormick never liked the law, saying it had been enacted without full input from the community. Acting on her own behalf, McCormick presented Judge Simpson with a copy of the city ordinance that created new evening parking restrictions for a large swath of the resort area.

She argued that the ordinance called for the approval of 51 percent of the neighborhood residents before being enacted. But McCormick said no clear majority of the residents along 16th Street - where her charity operates and the tickets were issued - was evident. Thus, she said, her tickets were invalid.

Confronted with the argument, Simpson turned to the lone city representative in court, Klaus Jones, a computer programmer in the treasurer's office who is helping to develop programs to manage the new parking ordinance.

``Unless the city is willing to show why (McCormick) is wrong, then I'll have to dismiss the tickets,'' Simpson said.

Caught off-guard, Jones could not counter her argument, so Simpson dismissed all 23 of the parking tickets. He left four other traffic tickets undecided because they aren't parking violations. Those four will be heard Jan. 4 in court.

McCormick was thrilled.

``I want to get the process moving on this illegal ordinance,'' she said afterward.

But Henry Ruiz, director of the city's Parking Systems Management office, remained confident the law is proper.

``We reinventoried the area today and found 21 house numbers in the 400 block of 16th Street,'' he said Wednesday afternoon. ``We have on record 16 signatures wanting to have the parking restrictions in effect.''

But within those 21 addresses are an additional 16 dwellings that cater mostly to summertime residents. Ruiz said the additional dwellings could cut the number of people who favor the restrictions to less than half.

But even if the number were less than half, he said, a change made in August allows the city manager to impose changes in the parking laws without 51 percent approval from the local residents.

``So the 51 percent rule is no longer applicable and it has not applied since August,'' he said.

Ruiz said the city will still verify the signatures on file to ensure residents along 16th Street favor the law.

``My gut feeling is we wouldn't have designated that residential area if it didn't have 51 percent,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Brenda McCormick operates a charity on 16th Street, where the

tickets were issued.

by CNB