If you park in one of the EV charging station spaces at the Angus or Thornton recreation centre and you’re not charging an electric vehicle, it could cost you $75 if you’re caught — and $100 if you don’t pay within seven days.
It’s one of a handful of changes Essa Township will be making to its parking bylaws in an effort to strengthen and enhance its parking enforcement program.
“Parking in the Township of Essa, particularly in medium- to high-density residential subdivisions, has become an increasingly challenging issue to manage,” Lisa Lehr, the township's manager of legislative services, wrote in her report to council.
Lehr recommended a number of amendments to the township’s parking bylaws.
“Local roads are often overcrowded with cars parked on road surfaces causing not only difficulty to motorists travelling the road system and safety concerns to pedestrians," she said, "but also challenges to municipal staff and contractors tasked with performing maintenance on the road system."
The township is also looking to deal with an increased number of people who are using municipal parking lots at local parks as overflow parking lots, with vehicles often not moving, in some cases, for days at a time.
Lehr’s report was presented to council for consideration at their meeting held on Dec. 20, 2023.
Following deliberations, a draft of the bylaw was presented during the regular council meeting on Jan. 17.
The draft included the following changes:
- authorize staff to engage with the Ministry of Attorney General to increase the early payment and/or set fines associated with "winter parking restrictions."
- direct staff to amend Essa's parking bylaw to include provisions specific to the prohibition of vehicles parking on the road system opposite to the flow of traffic.
- direct staff to amend Essa's parking by-aw to include provisions specific to vehicles parking in EV charging station parking spaces where they are not charging their vehicle.
- direct staff to amend Schedule A of Essa's parking bylaw to include no parking, at any time, on the north side of River Drive from Mill Street to Park Road.
- direct staff to amend Essa's parking bylaw to require vehicles parking in municipal parking lots to move on a regular basis (ie. once every 24 hours) to maintain the municipal parking lots for recreational users.
Council deferred a decision and a further report was requested, specific to the proposed parking restrictions on the north side of River Drive.
At council’s last meeting, on Feb. 7, Michael Mikael, the township's interim chief administrative officer and manager of public works, presented council with the following changes, specific to the north side of River Drive from Mill Street to Park Road.
"The new development (at 150 Mill St.) is currently in the construction phase and is anticipated to be fully operational in late 2024/early 2025. The development will consist of a gas station, a food partner and a car wash,” Mikael wrote.
“Once development at 150 Mill St. is complete and the businesses are operational, it is anticipated that major sightlines, safety and operational issues will occur on River Drive. This will result in the requirement for further parking restrictions on River Drive between Mill Street to Park Road, to ensure safety of the roadway and avoidance of liability exposure resulting from potential collision(s).”
Mikael’s report recommended staff:
- remove the proposed parking restrictions specific to the north side of River Drive from the proposed amendments contained in the staff report.
- investigate the parking restrictions on River Drive once the new development is complete, at 150 Mill St.
- send a formal letter to neighbouring business and property owners regarding parking restrictions contained in Essa's parking bylaw from 2005.
The parking bylaw amendment is anticipated to come before council for their consideration on Feb. 21.
