Parking in Waterloo Region

[ookpik]

I agree, basically.  Visitor parking, during the day, is permitted on city streets.  It's not permitted overnight, even in residential neighbourhoods.  And it's already policed, at least in theory.  Resident street parking is a non-starter in K-W today, and will continue to be so until and unless a resident street parking permit system is implemented.

 'In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.'... Albert Einstein

I can't speak for K-W but when I lived in Toronto overnight parking enforcement was lax. It was cheaper to pay the occasional parking ticket (perhaps one or two per month) than to rent a parking space or make other arrangements. I know this because a neighbour used to have several "beaters" parked up and down our street despite frequent phone calls from the rest of us to bylaw control. Maybe enforcement in K-W is different.

[MidTowner]

Maybe enforcement in K-W is different.

Enforcement of the overnight parking ban, as reported here in the past, is largely on a complaint basis. This is wrong since the ban only exists for some people (people whose neighbours don't have the inclination to call in complaints). But the ban itself should not be in place, nor should the three-hour limit.

There is no disadvantage to visitor or casual parking on city streets overnight. Nor is there any disadvantage to resident parking on city streets overnight, or at any other time. If the parking supply is limited, charges can be introduced until demand falls to meet supply. Simple.

In many older areas of the Region, driveways are single-width and garages may or may not exist. For families with two cars, there is a lot of incentivize to widen driveways, eliminating landscaped area along with on-street parking. It's senseless: because there are four hours of the day when the City of Kitchener (for instance) does not allow me to park my car in front of my house on the street, I might opt to widen by driveway so that parking spot in front of my house (and the grass or garden I may tear up, or even the street tree I might cut down) is now unavailable 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

[plam]

Maybe enforcement in K-W is different.

Enforcement of the overnight parking ban, as reported here in the past, is largely on a complaint basis. This is wrong since the ban only exists for some people (people whose neighbours don't have the inclination to call in complaints). But the ban itself should not be in place, nor should the three-hour limit.

There is no disadvantage to visitor or casual parking on city streets overnight. Nor is there any disadvantage to resident parking on city streets overnight, or at any other time. If the parking supply is limited, charges can be introduced until demand falls to meet supply. Simple.

In many older areas of the Region, driveways are single-width and garages may or may not exist. For families with two cars, there is a lot of incentivize to widen driveways, eliminating landscaped area along with on-street parking. It's senseless: because there are four hours of the day when the City of Kitchener (for instance) does not allow me to park my car in front of my house on the street, I might opt to widen by driveway so that parking spot in front of my house (and the grass or garden I may tear up, or even the street tree I might cut down) is now unavailable 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Agreed. It always seemed to me like it was NIMBYish to not let people park cars on the street overnight. It's not like the space isn't already reserved for parking. If you really want to make it difficult for people, you can have street cleaning parking rules (must move car twice a week) like Montreal. The overall overnight parking ban just has the noxious effects that you mention. Shoup also points out that driveways just replace storage on street with storage on property without increasing the amount of storage (because you can't park in front of the driveway anyway).

I only think you need resident parking when there's a demonstrated lack of space for cars, which is not going to be the problem in most places around here.

[MidTowner]

I only think you need resident parking when there's a demonstrated lack of space for cars, which is not going to be the problem in most places around here.

I think you're right. If and when residents start finding it difficult to find parking in a neighbourhood, a permit system can be introduced easily enough (this is done in many, many other cities) and can be a source of revenue.

[curious_look]

I would buy a condo without a dedicated parking spot! In fact, one of the perks (in my view) of the rental building I am in now is that the parking space is an optional add on to the rent - $$ saved without having to try to rent the space out!  

[BuildingScout]

No parking in the street, at least in Waterloo, was explicitly designed to punish students. The town took it onto itself to fight the University of Waterloo urban development from inception until around 2005 when finally student residences started to be approved. You can find the comments in city council meetings, statements from the planning department and in the press. This attitude was pervasive across a good portion of the citizenry. I met some old time residents through a friend and they were unabashedly anti-university: "the worst thing that has happened to Waterloo" they would say. My jaw hit the floor the first few times I heard this, since it is well established that a University in town increases property values, quality of jobs and general desirability of living there.

Other anti-university regulations is the fact that University is zoned commercial everywhere except between UW and WLU.

[MidTowner]

No parking in the street, at least in Waterloo, was explicitly designed to punish students.

I'm not disagreeing with the rest of your assertions- I've encountered a lot of shocking anti-gown prejudices from Waterloo residents. But street parking restrictions have been a feature of many North American communities for many years, so I don't think they can be mostly attributed to an anti-student bias in Waterloo. Besides, I thought students wouldn't be able to afford cars? (Kidding: I know that the "poor student" stereotype is rarely accurate for universities these days).

[ookpik]

I met some old time residents through a friend and they were unabashedly anti-university: "the worst thing that has happened to Waterloo" they would say. My jaw hit the floor the first few times I heard this, since it is well established that a University in town increases property values, quality of jobs and general desirability of living there.

Did those people ever live by any chance in Northdale?

[BuildingScout]

I'm not disagreeing with the rest of your assertions- I've encountered a lot of shocking anti-gown prejudices from Waterloo residents. But street parking restrictions have been a feature of many North American communities for many years, so I don't think they can be mostly attributed to an anti-student bias in Waterloo.

As I said, I'm just repeating comments made publicly by Councillors and city planners.

[eizenstriet]

“Punish”, “fight”, “pervasive”, “good portion”…. Convincing citations will be needed. I have lived in this City for well over (cough) a half-century, and have found pride in and identification with the universities to be “pervasive”.

Not to say that some citizens close to the “action” may not have had negative feelings in reaction to certain behaviours.

[BuildingScout]

It would take too long to fish them out, but not to go too far, we have "student ghetto" used to describe what could be a rather desirable university district. Raleigh, NC and Austin, TX are the two fastest growing cities in America precisely because they are university towns.

So called "student ghettos" are created by incompetent planning departments and then blamed squarely on students who, if you think about it, have no choice or say in the matter.

[Coke6pk]

Enforcement of the overnight parking ban, as reported here in the past, is largely on a complaint basis.

There is no disadvantage to visitor or casual parking on city streets overnight.

Resident FORMER meter-maid to clarify:

(1) 3 hour by-law is by complaint only outside the hospital and downtown areas.  The overnight is city-wide, and every city street is hit.  Officers will pick neighbourhoods, and enforce all streets in a large area.  It is mapped out where they went, and the date recorded.  The next night officers will pick a separate area until the entire city has been visited.  They will then start all over again.  Depending on staffing levels/other calls for service, you can expect a visit maybe 1-2 times a week.  $30/$60 a week for 3 months.... I'm sure that will add up.

(2) There is a cost to overnight parking.  I can only speak for Kitchener where it is only enforced in the winter months.... Each time a plow goes around that parked car, they are expected to make a return trip to completely clear that street.  That additional cost is why we have enforcement.  (The argument is the same for street sweeping, but CoK doesn't make them go back to fill in those spots)

Coke

[MidTowner]

Thanks for the benefit of your expertise and experience, Coke. So, for four months of the year (December 1 to March 31), the 2:30am to 6:00am ban is enforced. And the rest of the time, the three-hour limit (including overnight parking) is only enforced on a complaint basis. Which can make it seem somewhat capiricious to a vehicle owner receiving a ticket. And possibly even the residents of the neighbourhood that is enforced on the morning of December 1.

The City of Kitchener already has a system to declare "snow events" and inform residents that parking will not be permitted for the following 24 hours. We could easily do the same year-round, by either sending out an e-mail or just saying (for instance) "when Environment Canada predicts x centimeters of snow over the next 24 hours, parking is prohibited overnight." As for street sweeping, that's solved in many places by using one side of the street for half of the month, and the other on the other, or prohibiting parking on specific streets on specific days.

There are huge costs to disallowing street parking, or making it impractical. I don't think they're really on the radar of the City of Kitchener's accounting when they set these regulations.

[tomh009]

The City of Kitchener already has a system to declare "snow events" and inform residents that parking will not be permitted for the following 24 hours. We could easily do the same year-round, by either sending out an e-mail or just saying (for instance) "when Environment Canada predicts x centimeters of snow over the next 24 hours, parking is prohibited overnight."

In practical terms, if we allow unlimited overnight parking except for "snow events", where would those people be able to put their cars during "snow events"?  And that's still assuming people get the message, are in town, and don't forget to move their cars.

Unlimited street parking isn't without its issues, either.

[MidTowner]

In Ottawa, where they get about 235 centimeters of snow compared with our 160 or so, their rule is that there is no parking between 1:00am and 7:00am if Environment Canada is forecasting an accumulation of snow of more than seven centimers. This is in effect between November 15 and March 31, and does not apply to permit parking holders.

In Winnipeg, certain streets are labelled "snow route" if they are major through-streets that must be cleared immediately, and overnight parking on those streets is not permitted during winter.

In both of those cities, crews will identify streets for full clearing and place temporary "no parking" signs after a snowfall to facilitate full clearing when it's necessary.

Of course there have to be parking restrictions. One can't park too near a fire hydrant or a corner. But the three-hour limit is absolutely unnecessary, and the overnight parking ban could be made much more flexible.