As part of an ongoing effort to end the practice of people parking on front and side yards, city council unanimously approved a bylaw to that effect last week.
“We’re hoping that it makes an impact,” Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann told Sudbury.com.
“The policy will be very clear, so you can’t say you didn’t know.”
The new bylaw (Bylaw 2022-133), known as the Unauthorized Area Parking Bylaw, prohibits people from parking, standing or stopping a motor vehicle in an unauthorized area, which includes front and side yards.
Although the new bylaw pretty much echoes the existing zoning bylaws, it adds teeth when it comes to enforcement.
So described city bylaw manager Stefany Mussen, who noted enforcement for the current zoning bylaw requires a summons to court to answer to charges, which can be a “long, drawn-out process.”
The new bylaw will allow city bylaw officers to issue tickets on the spot to those breaking the rules, which offers a more immediate consequence.
“It’ll help,” Landry-Altmann said. “Nothing works better than when it comes out of your wallet – when it costs you.”
Maximum driveway width varies depending on zoning, but for general parking provisions for ground-orientated residential dwelling units, parking areas are permitted to eat up the lesser of 50 per cent of a property’s frontage or 6.3 metres’ driveway width.
The city has forwarded the Unauthorized Area Parking Bylaw to the Ministry of the Attorney General for consideration, which will determine the amount the city is allowed to fine people for breaches.
With the bylaw submitted only last week, Mussen said it’s unclear when the province will get back to them with a response – “Soon, hopefully.”
Of chief concern as it relates to front-lawn parking are rental properties, Landry-Altmann said, which is why a line about how “no person shall permit” the parking of a motor vehicle in an unauthorized location was included in the bylaw.
As such, Mussen said not only can the vehicle owner face potential fines for improper parking, but so, too, can the property owner.
As with any other area of bylaw enforcement, Mussen clarified the city “always provides education first and hopes to gain co-operation and compliance from property owners.”
“When those aren’t met, we like to have different mechanisms for us to enforce the bylaws,” she said, adding the bylaw city council approved last week will do just this.
The front-yard parking issue was raised earlier this year by Landry-Altmann and Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer, who hosted a community meeting at Cedar Park Playground in May to address public concern regarding unsightly properties.
Vehicles parked on front yards are a visual symptom of “slumlords,” Landry-Altmann said at the time.
“We’ve seen an influx of investors,” she said. “They are buying up properties – of course it’s a bidding war … and what’s happening is the cost is being shared by too many tenants.”
In some cases, “they’re just stacking people in there.”
The bylaw approved last week came as a result of the collective voice of approximately 75 people who attended the community meeting in May, Landry-Altmann said.
For those affected by the bylaw, she said there are mechanisms in place for property owners to apply to have their driveways widened.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
