Thorold’s chief building official presented his case for making bylaw enforcement more efficient, as well as saving taxpayers’ money, at Tuesday’s council meeting.
“The only new bylaw of the four,” he explained, will “allow bylaw enforcement to ticket for parking on yards, whereas the city doesn’t have to ability to do so currently.”
Asked by Coun. Nella Dekker the reason for creating this new bylaw, Simpson said it stemmed from “uproar from the public.”
“We get a large number of complaints regarding this. Now, if they refuse to remove it, we would have to take them to court. This (new) mechanism would allow us to give them a ticket.”
“Now, there will be a fine attached to it,” added Mayor Terry Ugulini. “Cars are parked on front lawns in Confederation and the neighbours get very upset.”
Another parking bylaw has been revised to “remove any discrepancies and conflicts between our current accessible bylaw, which doesn’t comply with current AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) standards,” said Simpson. “We would be able to issue a $300 parking ticket” to people who park in designated disabled spaces.
The city’s current clean yards bylaw has been revised with better wording to make enforcement “more effective,” said Simpson. “The old bylaw created concerns with bylaw enforcement that they weren’t able to enforce it efficiently.”
With respect to landlords, “Currently we don’t have fines for the residential licensing system,” he added.
“This will allow us to issue tickets for people in violation of that bylaw.”
A fine of $500 is the amount “the Attorney General approved previously,” he advised.
“We have been lenient for two years” by not fining violators, said Coun. Anthony Longo.
According to Simpson, “For the majority of these bylaws, there will be notice to give them time to comply, subject to fines if they don’t comply.”
“We reviewed the possibility of including a lot more of our bylaws into the same administrative penalty system” as the residential licensing bylaw, he added. “It would incorporate a number of other bylaws to allow tickets to be given without having to take people to court, which would be costly and a long, drawn-out process. It would also enable the city to issue fines and offset the cost of bylaw enforcement."
In terms of dollar amounts, "We increased parking blocking a fire hydrant and other life safety infractions," he stated. "Other than that, the fines remain the same.”
