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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRPS-08-149 - Winter Parking Prohibitionl Ks~~R Corporate Services REPORT Report To: Community Services Committee Date of Meeting: September 29, 2008 Submitted By: Troy Speck, General Manager of Corporate Services Prepared By: Shayne Turner, Director of By-law Enforcement Wards) Involved: All Date of Report: September 24, 2008 Report No.: CRPS-08-149 Subject: WINTER PARKING PROHIBITION RECOMMENDATION: That a by-law be enacted to amend By-law 2007-138 to prohibit parking on any City street when a significant snow event is declared, or during snow loading activities; and further, That a with respect to declaring snow events, as well as issuing parking tickets and towing vehicles during a snow event, be prepared and presented to Council for their consideration. BACKGROUND: On August 11, 2008, the Community Services Committee considered Report CSD-08-066 with respect to Winter Maintenance activities. In addition to several other recommendations, the Committee requested a report be presented to them with respect to the feasibility of a by-law that would prohibit parking on any City streets during a declared snow event or during snow loading activities. REPORT: In reviewing this issue, staff looked at several approaches to winter road maintenance that have been implemented in other municipalities. Ottawa The City of Ottawa has an overnight parking prohibition in place between the hours of 1 AM and 7 AM, from November 15t" to March 31st. However, they advise that there is no enforcement unless a significant snow event, that being the anticipation of 7 cros or more snow, is being forecast. With this type of approach, the City effectively does not change the parking rules in the middle of the day as much as they decide to enforce the rule that is already in place. When a snow event is declared, the City uses a variety of means to communicate to the public, including radio, television, their web site and "e"alerts. In addition, the City has a provision in their Traffic and Parking By-law that allows the General Manager to declare a special circumstance (ie. mater main break or snow storm) whereby special parking prohibitions can be implemented in a distinct area or City wide. In the case of a snow storm, this would have the effect of prohibiting parking on any city street regardless of the time of day or night. Ottawa staff advise that, in recent memory (15 plus years), there has only been 1 occasion where this special prohibition was declared as a result of a snow storm. That occurrence was last year. Hamilton The City of Hamilton has implemented a program whereby they designate certain streets, mainly arterial roads, as snow routes and the streets are signed as "no parking -snow routes" accordingly. However, they do not enforce the no parking provision, regardless of the existence of the signs, unless a snow emergency is declared by the Chief of Police. Staff advise that only 1 snow emergency has been declared in recent memory. It is important to note that the streets designated by the City of Hamilton (ie. arterial roads) are not typically the types of streets that are of the most concern to our Operations staff with respect to parked cars blocking access o four snow plows. Bram ton The City of Brampton has an overnight parking prohibition, between the hours of 2:30 AM and 6 AM, similar to Kitchener's, except that the prohibition is in place 12 months of the year, (ours' is for the 4 winter months). In addition, Brampton has a provision in their TrafficlParking By-law that prohibits parking that interferes with snow clearing activities. This provision is implemented when 3.5 inches (9 cros) is forecast. It is staff's understanding that Brampton publishes this message on a consistent basis but does not declare a snow event when the snowfall is forecast. Thus, it is up to the public to understand the by-law implications and park accordingly. Preferred Option Based on staff's research and deliberations, they are suggesting that the City's Traffic and Parking By-law #2007-138 be amended to prohibit parking on any City street at any time when a "snow event" is declared by the Director of Operations. This declaration would be made, based on credible weather forecast information, when a minimum of 8 cros of snow is being forecast. Once the declaration is made, Enforcement staff would be advised to be on hand in order to support Operations staff if and when they go into a full plow mode. The Enforcement staff would be called upon to attend at locations where the presence of parked vehicles is impeding the snow plows from clearing the subject street. An assessment would be made respect to the necessary actions, which may include the tagging and towing of any or all vehicles on the street in order to facilitate the passage of the plows. It is anticipated that the officers would only tow the number of vehicles necessary to allow appropriate access for the snow removal equipment. In other words, it is possible that only a certain number of vehicles on a street would be removed, regardless of how many are actually present and in violation of the by-law. In the event that some but not all vehicles are towed away the remaining vehicles that are found in violation would be ticketed. The matter of snow loading is a somewhat different issue in that staff has the ability to identify beforehand when and where they are going to operate. Thus, it is possible to post temporary signs and or have staff in the subject area prior to the loading operation commencing, in order to get vehicles moved as may be required. Once the by-law amendment comes into effect, staff will be applying to the Province for approval of a set fine in equivalent amount of the fine for parking overnight on a street during the winter months. Currently this fine is $20, and is under review. A report outlining suggested increases in certain parking fines will be presented to Council in October. Declaring a Snow Event The Director of Operations or his designate will be responsible for declaring the snow event and there should be some parameters, by way of a Council Policy Resolution, put in place to identify the intent of the declaration and how it will be declared. Operations staff advise that they have a high degree of confidence in the weather forecasting program that they subscribe to. The following is an outline of the possible content for a policy relating to the declaration of a snow event: 1. Staff will give as much notice as possible of an impending snow event, attempting to make the declaration no later than 5 PM on the subject day whenever possible, thus providing time for the media outlets to broadcast the information on their 6PM newscasts. At minimum, this would give residents a minimum of 7 hours notice prior to a full plow operation that usually starts around 1 AM. 2. A full plow event will be called when the forecast predicts a snowfall of 8 cros or more of snow, on Class 4 or 5 roads, pursuant to Provincial standards. 3. The declaration will remain in place for 24 hours from the time it is called, and could be extended by an additional 24 hour segment if weather conditions warrant it. On the other hand, the declaration could be cancelled prior to the 24 hour period if the weather conditions are such that the snowfall does not materialize as anticipated. Thus, staff propose that a Council Policy Resolution be developed that clearly states the parameters for declaring a snow event. Based on Council's direction resulting from this report, staff propose to present a policy for Council's consideration at an upcoming meeting. Enforcement Policy It should be noted that, notwithstanding the provision that would prohibit parking on any street during the declared snow event, staff would only enforce this parking prohibition when Operations staff advise of a situation whereby their snow clearing staff are encountering difficulties in accessing streets due to parked vehicles. There is a high probability that there will be a significant number of calls to the City with respect to vehicles being parked on street during the declared ban, however staff will not be enforcing the ban in many of these instances because the vehicles are not impeding our snow removal equipment. As such, it is important to develop a policy of enforcement with respect to ticketing and towing vehicles pursuant to this ban that clearly identifies that the ban will only be enforced when, in the opinion of Operations staff, their snow clearing equipment is being impeded from accessing a street. Further, the ticketing and towing will only occur to the degree necessary to allow the necessary equipment access to the street to perform the required duties. In other words, it is possible that some cars will be towed from a street while others are not, even though all the cars are in violation of the by-law. Staff are also proposing that the policy makes it clear that any parking tickets and towing charges cannot be cancelled or withdrawn at any time. Thus, staff propose that a Council Policy Resolution be developed that clearly states the extent to which Council wants this parking prohibition enforced. Based on Council's direction resulting from this report, staff propose to present a policy for Council's consideration at an upcoming meeting. This report will be in conjunction with the aforementioned policy relating to declaring a snow event. Communications In considering the implementation of such a bylaw there are two general communications challenges that will need to be addressed to ensure its successful implementation. (1) Informing the public of the new bylaw (first 2-3 years of implementation): For the first 2-3 years after the bylaw has been implemented extra measures should be taken to ensure that residents are aware of the new restrictions. Over time those efforts may be able to be reduced as more and more residents become aware and remember the details of the new bylaw. A full and detailed communications plan would be developed by staff to help inform residents of the restrictions and their responsibilities under the new bylaw. That annual communications plan, which would be implemented over a four week period starting in November each year, would include items such as: radio and newspaper advertisements, notices on car windshields, front-page stories in Your Kitchener, media releases and an informational brochure distributed from all city facilities. (2) Informing the public when a snow event has been declared: When a snow event has been declared staff will use the following communications tools to inform residents of the need to remove their vehicles from the roads. Each of these tools has been selected because they allow for immediate distribution of the information to residents. Notice on the front page of the city's website. A media advisory issued to all local media. An "Email Snow Alert" (which residents can subscribe to} will be sent out. Posters to be posted on the front doors of all city facilities with residents in attendance (ie. community centres, arenas, etc). Staff has spoken to several media outlets about the possibility of such a bylaw and the communications requirements. Staff are confident that when a snow event is called the media will assist in getting that information to the public. Timing of when a snow event will be called will be coordinated to ensure the media can be informed by their 6:00 pm newscasts. The communications will inform residents that the city has declared a snow event, remind them of their responsibilities under the bylaw and note the potential consequences for failing to comply with the bylaw. Challen es Notwithstanding the intent of this proposed by-law, it is not without its challenges and it is important for Council to understand these. Firstly, there is a high degree of probability that the public would expect enforcement on many or all City streets when the event is declared, even though the streets that they are focused on are not of concern to Operations staff with respect to the accessibility of snow plows. This underlines the need for a policy of enforcement. Secondly, there is the potential for negative feedback from people who are adversely affected by this by-law (received a ticket and/or their vehicle towed). Invariably, there will be claims that they were never notified of the snow event. This makes the communications plan an important part of this strategy. The By-law Enforcement Division has also identified a potential challenge with respect to having enforcement officers available on relatively short notice when the declaration is issued. The Division maintains a pool of part-time officers and the Division is bound by the collective bargain agreement for Local 791, in which part-time staff can work a maximum of 24 hours per week. Many of the officers in the part-time pool are utilized for various activities throughout the winter, such as sidewalk snow clearing and the overnight parking prohibition. As such, the 24 hours per week limitation may result in a reduced number of officers available on short notice. Where part time staff are not available, the Division's full time staff may be called upon, which can result in significant overtime costs. Staff have initiated a discussion with the City's Labour Relations Officer and Local 791 with respect to the 24 hour per week limitation. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: It is difficult to accurately forecast the financial implications of this initiative, as it is completely dependent upon the weather conditions. Based on staff's discussions so far, it is anticipated that 4 Parking Enforcement officers would be engaged for an 8 hour shift when the declaration is issued. The cost of 4 officers per shift would be approximately $1,000. It is also difficult to predict the potential ticket fine revenue to offset operating costs as the number of tickets potentially issued is unknown. Given the amount of time required to tow vehicles, the number of tickets issued will be significantly less than what normally can be issued during a shift. It is staff's objective to make this initiative cost neutral, however this cannot be guaranteed. Staff will provide Council with a cost analysis at the end of the initial winter season. COMMUNICATIONS: A Communications Plan will be distributed to members of Council based on their direction resulting from this report. CONCLUSION: It is staff's opinion that an amendment to the City's Traffic and Parking By-law to prohibit parking on City streets during a snow event will assist Operations staff in achieving their goal of clearing snow from all City streets within 24 hours of the cessation of a snowfall. Having said this, enforcement of this provision has significant potential to be controversial. As such, it is important that clear policies are established in order to guide staff with regard to declaring snow events and the enforcement that follows such a declaration. In addition, a comprehensive 2 pronged communications plan needs to be developed. The first part of the plan relates to the public education surrounding the by-law itself, and the second part relates to the communications that will be undertaken when a snow event is declared. Shayne Turner Director, By-law Enforcement