{"id":9568,"date":"2015-01-21T17:51:37","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T22:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=9568"},"modified":"2015-01-21T17:51:37","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T22:51:37","slug":"parking-crackdown-sparks-talks-of-on-street-parking-permits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/parking-crackdown-sparks-talks-of-on-street-parking-permits\/","title":{"rendered":"Parking crackdown sparks talks of on-street parking permits"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

A crackdown on the enforcement of winter parking restrictions across Aurora could lead to the development of an on-street parking permit system.<\/p>\n

The move stems out of last week\u2019s General Committee meeting where Councillors gave the tentative green light for strengthened enforcement of the Town\u2019s existing winter parking restrictions, particularly when it comes to spots surrounding neighbourhood parks. <\/p>\n

While it will be some weeks before a report comes back to Council on the development and implementation of such a system, they are expected to give the formal green light to upping the enforcement at this week\u2019s Council meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have had a number of emails from residents around Town Park specifically with respect to parking around Town Park,\u201d said Mayor Geoff Dawe, noting working with Techa van Leeuwen, Aurora\u2019s Director of Bylaw Services, to come up with a solution. \u201cOne of the things we have done is put the enforcement of the regulations out to March 1. While the parking restrictions have been in force for 30 or 40 years, we haven\u2019t enforced them so people are used to parking around Town Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think we are doing something new, but we\u2019re just enforcing what should have been done all along.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the issue of parking around Town Park is its proximity to the GO Station. Parking spaces taken over by commuters rather than users of the park itself is a particularly challenging area for Ms. van Leeuwen\u2019s department, she said, as it is difficult to properly identify cars that should and should not be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cOvernight restrictions might prohibit those early GO Train commuters from using Town Park because they wouldn\u2019t be able to park and make their train,\u201d she said. \u201cWe would have to consider what other options are available, what types of tools we could use in patrolling the area, and trying to determine whether or not they are being used by commuters or by individuals who are, in fact, using the park. It is a difficult situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the enforced parking restrictions were largely supported by Council, they questioned whether there would be a better way forward. Councillor Tom Mrakas, for instance, said he has heard concerns from residents who \u201cfind they don\u2019t have enough parking spaces\u201d, especially in areas of townhomes and semi-detached homes.<\/p>\n

His amendment for a report looking into a parking permit system was supported by Councillor Sandra Humfryes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is a really warranted area to look into,\u201d she said. \u201cI know it is probably difficult to manage, but if we can figure out how the City of Toronto does that, it would really help those neighbours because I do see a bigger problem there. Even when it is not winter, [parking] is very, very tight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Wendy Gaertner, on the other hand, questioned how such a system would impact snow clearing. If permit parking is implemented, it could indeed impact clearing, noted Ilmar Simanovskis, Aurora\u2019s Director of Infrastructure, but that impact would be contingent on how many permits were issued, the concentration of cars, and other factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current practice of not having cars parked on the road allows us free access and that is the best situation we could have,\u201d he said.
\nBuilding on the suggestion of a permit system, Councillor Harold Kim went a step further saying an online permit system would be worth investigating too.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when residents have people over and it is wise for them not to be driving, it would be nice to have just-in-time parking passes available online\u2026to print out and put on your dashboard,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Less enthusiastic about overall parking enforcement was Councillor Gaertner who said she fielded a call from a resident who parked on a cul-de-sac at 3 a.m. and received a ticket. The street in question, she said, was a third stage snow clearing area, and this kind of enforcement was too much, she ventured.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is wrong and I think it is unfair to our residents, she said, to Ms. van Leeuwen. \u201cI think you do an amazing job\u2026but maybe sometimes some leniency can be shown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. van Leeuwen said parking can be a \u201ccontentious\u201d issue on both sides and hundreds of complaints are received every year about people parking illegally on streets. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a difficult situation and [officers] are on duty for the purposes of patrolling the Town and to obtain compliance,\u201d she said. \u201cIf a person receives a ticket once, hopefully they won\u2019t continue to violate, which addresses a snow clearing issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A crackdown on the enforcement of winter parking restrictions across Aurora could lead to the development of an on-street parking permit system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2uk","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 19:21:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}