Last week, city council members voted 5-0 to adopt an ordinance to amend Brea City Code to reestablish street sweeping parking restrictions on public streets after having a discussion on the issue last month.
The overhauled street sweeping law kicks on May 7.
Brea’s reworked ordinance also bumps up the fines for cars blocking a street sweeper – raising it from $35 to $45, while keeping the same times and days already on the books.
While no discussion was held on the new law during the April 7 meeting, city officials publicly considered exemptions to the fines during the March 3 city council meeting.
During that meeting, Police Sergeant Omar Brioso said the community raised accessibility concerns over current parking restrictions for residents displaying disability placards.
As of now, Brea’s parking restrictions block residents from stopping or parking their vehicle on designated streets or highways from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. during specific street sweeping days.
The overhaul comes after city officials reinstituted street sweeping enforcement in 2024, ending a five-year period of no restrictions.
“The reason we reinstated the street sweeping citations was we were receiving a lot of complaints from the community about people not moving their cars,” Councilwoman Christine Marick said at the March 3 meeting. “Obviously during the pandemic period, we had a lot of people at home, so we opened up a lot with respect to overnight parking and street sweeping.”
According to Brioso, the exemptions will apply to cars with disability placards and disabled veterans’ license plates. It will not apply to any place where stopping or parking is fully prohibited by law – such as bus zones, commercial loading zones and other restricted use spaces.
Brea Police Chief Adam Hawley said the city had been relying on state code instead of a local ordinance.
“We currently don’t have our own city code. We point to the state vehicle code which the state allows us to create a local ordinance much like we’ve done with other things,” Hawley said. “So it creates our own city code and then we can set a fine amount associated with that.”
Marick pointed out resident complaints about neighbors parking in front other people’s homes during street sweeping days while Councilmember Blair Stewart emphasized the importance of the task and the positive impact that it has on the environment and the city’s waterways.
Councilmember Steve Vargas said the presentation should have noted the fine increase ahead of being presented to the council.
This change in Brea comes as Fullerton begins street sweeping restrictions in the Wednesday zones of the city.
Last year, the city voted to resume ticketing for parking violations after a five-month lull in enforcement, restructuring its schedule to an alternating biweekly route to accommodate residents who live in apartment complexes.
Parking enforcement in Fullerton is to resume once signs in the respective zones have been updated – with the Wednesday zone being the latest of the updates.
