Downey faces lawsuit after City Council blocks apartment residents from parking overnight on Shellyfield Road

The City Council created a preferrential parking district on Shellyfield Road, between Muller and Cecilia streets. Photo by Eric Pierce

DOWNEY -- The battle between Downey homeowners and renters over available street parking intensified this week after a property management company promised to sue the City of Downey over its use of preferential parking districts. 

The City Council voted in 2015 and again Sept. 12 to create a preferential parking district on Shellyfield Road, between Cecilia and Muller streets, which limited overnight street parking to residents living on Shellyfield. 

The district was created in response to a petition from Shellyfield residents, who complained that renters from local apartment buildings were taking up all available street parking. 

L'Abri Management Inc., a property management company that operates the nearby 149-unit Stonewood Village apartment complex, said the parking district was "prejudice against renters and for homeowners."  

"We had hoped the City would give some consideration to renters in the Cecilia, Shellyfield and Clancy neighborhoods," Ron Kolar, president of L'Abri, wrote in a letter to Downey council members. "Unfortunately this is not the case. So this is why it is necessary to file a lawsuit." 

L'Abri also promised to file a court injunction "to keep the City from creating any additional preferential parking district benefitting homeowners at the expense of renters." 

Council members are scheduled to discuss the potential lawsuit in closed session Tuesday night.