Parking ticket fines expected to more than double in East Gwillimbury

Yorkregion.com
November 20, 2019
Simon Martin

Big changes are coming to parking fines and speed limits in East Gwillimbury.

After much deliberation and staff research, council passed a new proposed consolidated traffic and parking bylaw that would see parking fines more than double across the board.

Some of the new initiatives for the parking bylaw include no on-street parking between 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. year round, parking prohibitions for commercial vehicles on a highway within a residential zone, and more clarity in the bylaw for vehicles found illegally overhanging onto the roadway.

Staff conducted a scan of the town’s parking fines with other municipalities and they found the town’s current fines are lower by comparison.

The fine for parking for more than three hours is increasing from $30 to $75; parking in a no-parking area from $30 to $50; hydrant obstruction from $30 to $100; interference for snow removal from $30 to $100; and fire route from $75 to to $150. Fines will have an early payment option that will decrease the set amount by $15 if paid within seven days.

If residents need to park on the road overnight they can get special permission by contacting the town.

“I’m not sure that when people get elected they realize that the most important calls that they get from people are about parking,” Mayor Virginia Hackson said. “I think that the work done here is going to make a big change for a lot of us.”

“I think it is very good bylaw for us to be moving forward,” Ward 1 Coun. Loralea Carruthers said.

Fellow Ward 1 Coun. Terry Foster said the town has to be conscious of parking with the way development is going these days. “Setbacks from the street so you have a driveway long enough to put two vehicles in and a garage that’s actually big enough to put something else in other than smallest vehicle you can buy,” he said.

There was some apprehension about putting the new overnight parking rule in place.

Ward 3 Coun. Cathy Morton voiced her concern that people are going to go to parties and leave their vehicles on the road because they are unable to drive home. “How can we penalize them for actually being diligent in what they’re doing and not driving,” she said.

Communicating the changes to the public was important point several members of council raised.

“I think we need to get the word out there that there (are) options like parking consideration,” Ward 3 Coun. Scott Crone said. “I think the average public doesn’t know that this exists.”

The changes to bylaw would also affect a number of speed limits in front of town parks.

The speed limit would drop from 50 km/h to 40 km/h in front of Brown Hill Park, Don Rose Park, Grant Park, Grist Mill Park, Manor Forest Park, Mill Street Park, Millennium Garden, Peggy’s Wood Park, Ross Family Complex, Samuel Lount Park, Sharon Hills Park and Vivian Creek Park.

Budget revenue projections for 2020 using the current parking fines are estimated to be $42,000.

Staff anticipate an increase in revenue of $15,000 to $20,000. This represents a 40 per cent increase when the proposed parking offence-related set fines are considered.

An estimated cost of $7,000 will be needed to update signage at the town’s main entrances to the municipality and its communities including Sharon, Holt, Holland Landing, River Drive Park and Mount Albert as well as to supply and install 40 km/h speed limit signs for those roads fronting schools and parks.  

In 2018, council approved the three-hour parking prohibitions be exempted from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Staff investigated on-street permit parking. Seventy-four per cent of surveyed residents said they were not in favour of an on-street parking permit program.