Kitchener looking at change to parking rules
Posted Apr 9, 2013 05:33:23 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Parking regulations in Kitchener may become a little more relaxed.
The current by-law in Kitchener doesn’t allow your to park on your boulevard, the paved part of your driveway beneath the sidewalk, but the city doesn’t actively enforce the rule except during the winter months.
Currently, parking is also not allowed on city streets anytime during the year for more then three consecutive hours, and from December 1st to March 31st, there is no parking at all between 2:30 and 6:00am. The winter regulations are actively enforced and during the other 8 months they are not.
But, the recommendations that came forward at a City of Kitchener committee meeting last night may be changing those rules, for the better.
The changes still need to ratified by city council on Monday, but they are considering a one-year, city wide pilot project that would allow both parking on boulevards from December 1st to March 31st and overnight parking during the other eight months.
However, Councillor Kelly Galloway-Sealock tells 570 News there would be a number of rules to enforce proper boulevard parking.
“Your tires have to be able to fit within the paved area of your boulevard and you cannot overhang your property line, so you can’t overhang your car onto a different property line, so if you have a really close boulevard or a close property line to where your boulevard and your driveway ends, you wouldn’t be able to hang over that. Now your car could hang over the grass onto your property but your tires have to be able to hit the paved portion. So there are certain driveways that still wouldn’t be able to accommodate boulevard parking because their width would be too narrow.”
Galloway-Sealock adds for the residents she represents in Ward 5 this really needs to happen.
“With the new planning regulations that are in place we have a lot smaller lot width and it’s very difficult for residents to find parking, but not only residents but for their visitors to find parking, especially if they stay overnight. So what this does is help to elevate some of the pressure on residents who need to park. But again, it’s just a one year project. We’ll review it. We’ll have an opportunity to look at it and see how successful or unsuccessful it was and possibly tweak thing at the end of the year. So I think that it’s good it’s on a trial basis.”
Although the changes are being launched at the same time in the same project, Galloway-Sealock says they are completely separate. The on-street parking overnight rule will comate motorists during the spring, summer and fall months. The boulevard rule will not only allow residents to have extra parking in the winter, but will also help to keep city streets clear for snow removal.
