Beginning this week, the City of Wilmington will return to a practice carried out by other cities and towns in Delaware—parking ticket appeals will be submitted to the State Justice of the Peace Court.
Mayor Mike Purzycki said Wilmington will no longer provide courtesy administrative ticket reviews. Instead, he said, a state court will review the legitimacy of a ticket and determine the outcome of an appeal.
“Ticket appeals should be heard and decided in a court of law, not in the offices of City Hall,” said Purzycki. “Moving appeals to the court is a fair process for constituents and less taxing on city staff who are regularly pulled from their assigned duties to review an appeal request. Many times, appeals are clearly unwarranted, which could be because ticket holders know the city offers an administrative appeal process during which time fines and additional penalties are frozen. We have taken many steps over the past year to provide a better parking enforcement system, and now we’ll continue that effort by having all appeals go directly to the court. This is a change for the better for both constituents and City government.”
- Ticket recipients who wish to appeal their ticket can complete the online appeal form, which can be found here, and the City will submit the appeal request to the Justice of the Peace Court. The court will select a hearing date and notify the ticket recipient.
- Individuals who do not have internet access can request a court appeal by mailing their appeal in writing to the City of Wilmington, P.O. Box 2308, Wilmington, DE 19899.
- Individuals can also drop off their written appeal at the first-floor Department of Finance Customer Service Office at the Redding Government Building at 800 North French Street.
Long-time Wilmington parking critic Ken Grant praised the decision.
“This is a significant step in the right direction. After years of hearing about issues with the city’s administrative process for parking ticket appeals, it is good to see that drivers will now have access to their due process rights restored. By taking the appeals process out of the ‘closed box’ system and putting it into an open, constitutional court, we expect to hear fewer complaints from the people of Wilmington.”
