Virginia Law

A. All faculty, staff, student, and visitor appeals will be considered by an Appeals Review Officer, who may uphold the appeal, deny the appeal, or reduce the regulation violated to a lesser offense. The results of the appeal will be reported to the appellant by United States mail or at the conclusion of an expedited hearing. Payment of fines on appealed citations is due within 10 calendar days after the decision date. All student appeals are considered by the Student Appeals Board unless the expedited hearing process is selected. An expedited hearing process is available for the convenience of the individual who receives a ticket and wishes to have an immediate review and decision of the matter. All decisions are final.

Neither the members of the Faculty/Staff Appeals Board or the Student Parking Appeals Review Board are affiliated with the Parking Services Office or are compensated for their services. The appeals review/expedited hearing officer is a paid member of the University Services staff and hears appeals upon request three days each week from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. All decisions are final.

B. Appeals guidelines are described in this subsection.

1. The citation is presumed valid. It is the obligation of the appellant to present information that would invalidate the ticket.

2. Reasons that might warrant invalidation of the ticket are: evidence of illness that necessitated the violation, mechanical breakdowns that were handled in a reasonable expeditious manner, documented erroneous information given by a parking services employee, or other circumstances that are unusual enough to warrant special consideration.

3. Reasons to warrant a downgrade of the ticket are: when further information that was not readily available to the marshall is provided to the reviewer as a justification for the downgrade (e.g., a ticket for "no decal" given to a car that has been issued a valid decal, but not displaying the decal), valid misunderstandings regarding ambiguous parking areas, judgment of the reviewer, etc.

4. A specific reason for denial need not be given. A general statement can be made that a sufficient reason for reversal was not contained in the written appeal. The appeals process sheet states that decisions are made based on the George Mason University Motor Vehicle Parking Policies and Regulations (8VAC35-21-10 et seq.), on information presented in the written request and on any further comments made by the appellant in case of a re-appeal.