Permit-by-Plate and License Plate Recognition

The City of West Hollywood uses License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology to assist in better managing the City's parking assets. Permit-by-Plate is the terminology for when a vehicle's license plate is used in lieu of a physical parking permit to identify its parking privileges. Eligible residents may use this method of permitting for online visitor parking permits and residential permits. Guest permits are not eligible for permit-by-plate. 

To get started, sign-up HERE. Please allow a few days for processing the initial application. Once approved, you may access your online account on-demand. 

Benefits of Permit-by-Plate

Sustainable- Each year the Parking Services Division issues thousands of paper visitor permits. Using the license plate will reduce the City's dependence on paper products. 

Cost Effective- Purchasing permits and mailing permits costs the City thousands of dollars each year. Once implemented, the City will slowly lower its reoccurring expenses on permit purchases.

Experience- Residents using Permit-by-Plate will no longer be required to come in person to pick-up permits, eliminating commuting to a permit pick-up location and standing in line.

Convenience- Because Permits-by-Plate are virtual, there is no permit to lose, steal, or forget to display.

Eligibility- All residents may, and are encouraged to, participate and take advantage of Permit-by-Plate. Please sign-up today.

How to Sign-up

New Residents

An initial application must be submitted online HERE. Once approved, the resident may begin requesting Visitor Permits via the Permit-by-Plate Portal, update vehicle information, and purchase resident and guest parking permits. Multiple accounts may be registered for the same address with the proper prerequisites. It should be noted that available permits and visitor points are for the entire household, not the individual. If there are multiple registered residents at an address, please be sure to coordinate appropriately. 

Current Permit Holders

Residents who currently have Resident or Guest Annual Permits may begin requesting Visitor Permits online immediately. Residents who have renewed their Resident or Guest permits online will use the same username and login to access Visitor Permit Portal.  Those who have not renewed online before just need to follow the instruction on the site to register for an account.  

How to Use Permit-by-Plate

Whether using permit-by-plate for a resident permit or as a visitor permit, the accuracy of the vehicle's license plate is critical to the functionality. Please do not guess when entering the license plate. 

Residential Permit-by-Plate 

Residents register the vehicle's license plate during the initial application process. If adding a new vehicle or replacing a vehicle, please submit a new application. The information that is recorded during in the application phase of the process will be what is registered with Parking Enforcement to determine the vehicle's parking permissions. 

Visitor Permit-by-Plate

Visitor Permits (WHMC 10.08.130(c)) are temporary parking permits eligible residents are afforded to accommodate guests who are visiting for a short period of time (between one and five days).

Visitor permits are purchased on-demand by the resident using their online parking account. Once the visitor permit has been successfully assigned with the resident's points, the visitor's license plate is added. Like residential permits, the accuracy of the license plate is paramount to avoid a parking citation. 

Unlike a residential permit, a resident may "reuse" a visitor permit-by-plate as many times as they need while it is active. To reuse the visitor permit-by-plate, the resident simply replaces the license plate with the new vehicle's information. Only one permit may be assigned to a vehicle at a time, so if both vehicles are parking at the same time, each will need their own permit-by-plate.  

Vehicles must be registered via the displayed license plate, permanent or temporary. Special characters, spaces or other non-alphanumeric items are to be omitted. For example, ABC-123 would be registered as ABC123 and 321*ZYX would be entered as 321ZYX. If the vehicle has only a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and no license plate, enter “VIN” and the last four digits of the VIN in place of the permit.  For example VIN ABCD1234EFGH5678 would be entered as "VIN5678". 

Carefully registering vehicle’s information is essential to avoid receiving citations.

Visitor Permit Rules (WHMC 10.08.130)

To prevent overuse of Visitor permits, accounts are restricted in the number of permits they may request each day and each month.

Visitor permits shall be issued to eligible residents to facilitate a visit or attendance at a resident’s social function or gathering, subject to the following conditions:

1. The maximum number of visitor permits an eligible resident may be issued shall be based on a point system calculated by the number of permits and the duration of days the permit is in effect, subject to a daily and/or monthly cap.
2. Each visitor permit shall not exceed five calendar days of parking exemption.
3. Each dwelling unit is limited to a number of visitor permits that total fifteen calendar days of parking exemption in each month.
4. Each dwelling unit is limited to twenty-five permits per calendar day, but cannot exceed one hundred permits per calendar month.
5. Visitor permits may be issued no more than five days in advance of the effective date.
6. Real estate agents conducting open houses within a preferential parking district may obtain up to five visitor, one-day dated permits for their use and the use of persons viewing the open house by providing proof of current licensing by the California Real Estate Commission and the listing address of the property to be shown within the preferential parking district. Real estate agents who are residents of a preferential parking district shall not be entitled to obtain more than five visitor permits unless the intended use of the permit is solely personal to facilitate a house guest or attendance at a resident’s social function as provided for in this section.
7. Visitor permits shall expire at 12:00 noon following the last effective date of the permit.