Within the next six months, the municipality of South Dundas should have the ability to hand out parking tickets, and collect fines from parking infractions.
South Dundas council and staff are in the midst of reviewing a bylaw that will regulate parking on all of South Dundas’ municipal roads and municipally owned property including the parking lots at the Iroquois and Morrisburg shopping plazas and waterfront areas, as well as parks across the municipality.
South Dundas council and staff members, including Donald Lewis, manager of planning and enforcement, Dan Tessier, building inspector and bylaw enforcement officer and new department hire Brent Mattice, went through the bylaw, line by line, with council at a special meeting held January 20, at the South Dundas Municipal Centre in Morrisburg.
With this bylaw, will come a major sign purchase to properly mark nearly 40 areas where parking will be prohibited or restricted.
The bylaw also sets out designated fire access routes.
These routes include areas around South Dundas’ three fire stations, fire reservoirs, and most notably, areas of the Morrisburg and Iroquois Plazas.
The area near the Morrisburg clock tower of the mall, has long been an area where vehicles stopping has long been an issue as they impede proper traffic flow at a busy intersection.
Stopping will be prohibited there and along the roadway in front of the Mac’s store in the Iroquois Plaza.
This bylaw will finally give the municipality the power to ticket, and possibly even tow those stopping there illegally.
Generally, the bylaw states that motorists parking at the plazas, must park between the lines in a designated parking space.
This bylaw will give South Dundas the authority to ticket those illegally making use of designated wheelchair accessible spaces.
While most of the 35 parking fines outlined in the first draft of the bylaw are $25 or $35, the fine for illegally parking in an accessible space is $300.
The bylaw outlaws any heavy truck, trailer or bus to be parked on any municipal road within the municipality of South Dundas. Those doing so could face a $50 fine, once this bylaw comes into effect.
Other standard parking rules such as not blocking driveways, intersections or fire hydrants, or parking that interferes with snow removal, will become ticketed offences, once the bylaw is enacted.
The process to enact this bylaw is longer than others because it must receive provincial approval, which can take up to six months. It becomes law after the third reading, which takes place after provincial approval has been granted. The bylaw has not yet had first reading at the South Dundas council table. Some changes that arose from discussions at the January 20 meeting are being implemented before the document is made available to business organizations and the public.
“What we are going to need is a common sense application of what we are doing here,” said South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds. “There’s a reasonable explanation to every rule here that we want to put in place.”
Be the first to comment