Lake Park Tower Apartments

“We have seen a huge improvement in the gated and garage areas. Once enforcement started abusers started making changes immediately”

BUILDING Name(S)

Lake Park Tower Apartments

Reliant Parking launch

September 2020

MANAGEMENT COMPANY

Moonbeam

Location

Lake Park Tower Apartments

COMMUNITY SIZE

274 Units

# parking spots

354 Spaces

How Lake Park Tower Ended Multi-Zone Parking Abuse

Lake Park Tower, a 274-unit apartment community in East Cleveland, Ohio, eliminated parking abuse across its gated, garage, and open parking zones by implementing Reliant Parking in September 2020. The centralized parking management system digitized permits and enforcement, resulting in immediate behavioral changes and maintaining the property’s tight 1.29 space-per-unit parking ratio.

Moonbeam manages Lake Park Tower and operates three distinct parking areas. These include a gated zone, a structured parking garage, and open surface spaces. Each zone presented its own abuse pattern and enforcement challenges. Managing all three areas from a single, fragmented manual system created compliance gaps.

Parking availability was tight at the property, with 354 spaces for 274 units, yielding a ratio of 1.29 spaces per unit, below the average of 1.5, indicating a structurally tight supply. Residents and outside vehicles constantly abused open parking due to the lack of an enforcement mechanism.

After implementing the Reliant Parking centralized management system, the management team reported improvement across all three parking zones. Abusers responded immediately once enforcement began. This case study explains the specific problems related to the multi-zone infrastructure of Lake Park Tower and how a single digital system addressed all three zones simultaneously.

Quick Snapshot: Lake Park Tower at a Glance

Why Managing Three Parking Zones Requires a Single Centralized System

Multi-zone parking requires complex management strategies. Enforcement follows a consistent ruleset and requires a single uniform database check when a property has one type of parking. Enforcement must apply different rules in each zone while pulling from the same central database. A parking management system that manages only one zone leaves the other two unprotected.

The Lake Park Tower property features three specific zones with unique vulnerabilities:

• Zone 1 is the gated area. Gate access restricts entry but does not prevent abuse inside the gate. Enforcement requires a permit database check because a gate alone does not guarantee authorization once a vehicle enters the gated zone.
• Zone 2 is the parking garage. Structured spaces in a garage are typically assigned to specific residents. Abuse takes the form of unauthorized vehicles occupying assigned spaces that belong to someone else. Garage enforcement requires officers to walk every level and cross-reference paper records without a database linking each space to its assigned vehicle.
• Zone 3 comprises the open surface spaces. This area represents the most vulnerable zone, lacking physical barriers and operating on a first-come basis. Open parking serves as the primary target for both resident overflow abuse and outside vehicle intrusion.

Managing these three zones without a centralized system forced the management team to manage one zone at a time. Fixing the open lot did nothing for the garage, and enforcing the garage rules did not stop the gated zone abuse.

What Parking Looked Like at Lake Park Tower Before Reliant Parking

Problem 1: Open parking operated with no controls. The open surface parking areas at Lake Park Tower had no permit requirement, no vehicle tracking, and no enforcement mechanism. This lack of control caused legitimate residents to lose access to the shared open spaces.

Problem 2: No enforcement capability existed across any zone. Enforcement teams were unable to effectively identify violators in the gated area, garage, or open lot because no centralized database existed to check against. This made enforcement performative rather than functional.

Problem 3: Manual office-based permit administration. All parking permits were managed manually from the management office, generating error risk and consuming administrative time.

Problem 4: Guest parking with no formal procedure. The property lacked a record of registered guest vehicles or their authorization status.

Problem 5: No medical needs accommodation tracking. The management team lacked a way to assign, track, or enforce special parking for residents with medical needs.

Why Lake Park Tower and Moonbeam Chose Reliant Parking

Specific requirement: Lake Park Tower needed a parking management system that could enforce three distinct parking zones from a single database. Most traditional approaches manage one zone at a time, often resulting in gaps in enforcement.

Why Reliant: Reliant Parking provided the necessary centralized system that offered a digital enforcement app and allowed for the creation of special permit types, including medical accommodations.

Lake Park Tower in East Cleveland is the only Ohio property in the Reliant Parking case study portfolio, demonstrating that the platform operates effectively across different regional markets and property types.

How Reliant Parking Was Deployed at Lake Park Tower

Step 1. System Manager Configures Three Zones: The Reliant Parking team configured the Manager Portal to map all 354 parking spaces for each zone.

Step 2. Property Manager Configures Medical Needs Permits: A permit category for medical needs was established to create a trackable digital record.

Step 3. Resident registration across all units: All 274 units were informed of the new permit system and registered their vehicles through the online portal.

Step 4. Guest permit system activation: Residents registered guests through the app without requiring an office visit.

Step 5. Enforcement app deployment across all three zones: Enforcement officers began real-time plate verification using the app.

What Changed at Lake Park Tower After Going Live

• Result 1. Abusers responded immediately to active enforcement.
• Result 2. Improvement across gated and garage areas.
• Result 3. Open parking abuse ended.
• Result 4. Medical needs permits became formalized.
• Result 5. Admin burden reduced.

What Lake Park Tower and Moonbeam Say About the Experience

“We have seen a huge improvement in the gated and garage areas. Once enforcement started, abusers started making changes immediately.” - Property Manager, Lake Park Tower, Moonbeam

What Apartment Communities with Mixed Parking Infrastructure Can Learn from Lake Park Tower

• Lesson 1: Each parking zone requires a different enforcement approach, but all must connect to one database.
• Lesson 2: Open parking requires a formal permit to prevent resident overflow.
• Lesson 3: Behavior changes faster than most managers expect when enforcement begins.

How Open Parking Abuse Differs from Assigned Space Violations?

Open parking abuse impacts all residents competing for available open spaces, making it harder to detect and manage.

How to Manage Accessible and Medical Needs Parking at Apartment Communities?

A formal permit category for medical needs creates a documented record.

Why a Parking Garage Still Needs Active Enforcement?

Garage spaces are often abused, requiring a database to link each space to its assigned vehicle.

How Reliant Parking Works for Properties Outside California?

The platform effectively addresses common parking management challenges across the US, beyond just California.

How does consistent parking enforcement deter future violations?

Active enforcement reduces parking abuse by creating a reliable identification system that reduces opportunities for violations.