Aurora council expected to OK permit parking at Town Park

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 4, 2015
By Teresa Latchford

The first phase of the town’s parking permit program will be 15 permitted parking spaces at Town Park for residents.

If approved at next week’s council meeting, residents living in close proximity to the park would be allowed to purchase parking permits to use the dedicated spaces. The permits would be flexible so residents could purchase one for a weekend, week or a month, explained building and bylaw service director Techa van Leeuwen.

“It is an older area of town with limited parking and many of the residences have added additional units,” she said. “We will monitor the uptake on the program and report back in maybe three months time with what is working and what needs to be tweaked.”

The same report would give town staff the greenlight to restrict parking around Town Park to three hours on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. to address the issue of GO commuters parking in the spaces around the park. Monitoring of the parking situation concluded that GO transit users fill 60 to 70 per cent of the park’s parking spaces during the day, leaving less available spots for park users.

In addition, staff would also expand the automated issuance management system program to a comprehensive parking permit management solution to allow just-in-time parking permits.

The town often receives requests for overnight and specialty parking considerations from residents who have family gatherings, own seasonal recreation vehicles and organizations hosting special events, which town staff currently deal with manually on a case-by-case basis.

“Just be aware that when the notices for these changes come out you will hear from the other side (commuters),” Mayor Geoff Dawe said. “Those who do park there will find other places to park.”

Councillor Michael Thompson suggested town staff keep an eye on other streets where commuters might try to park, especially in the area where the Aurora Cultural Centre and Aurora Public Library are.

Councillor John Abel felt one of the largest areas of concern was how the town approaches the winter parking restrictions.

“I want to look at working with the residents and not enforcing this by law when there is no snow,” he said, pointing out the restriction is in effect right now. “I think we can go with a more adult approach, relying on people’s common sense.”

He also told town staff Kingston’s winter parking restrictions don’t begin until December and Ottawa only enforces its restrictions when a snow event is expected.

For more information, visit aurora.ca.