Thorold city staff will be taking a closer look at the arsenal of weapons they have to continue the battle against rowdy student parties within city limits.
In a motion to council last night, Coun. Carmen DeRose laid out the idea of requiring a permit to party.
"If you are going to have a party with a certain amount of people, you will need a permit. And if you don't have one, the residents of the house and the landlords will be penalized, and I mean severely, because this is getting out of control."
The motion comes after several weekends, where residents in the Winterberry- and Juneberry area have had their sleep disrupted by vast amounts of returning students eager to get their party on, leaving a trail of destruction and arrests in its path.
Senior staff has been meeting with Brock officials and according to Mayor Terry Ugulini, some improvements have been seen from that work, but council agreed that there is need to be proactive as the issue will live on.
"I got emails about Juneberry with 150-200 people. I know it is homecoming, but it is no excuse," said DeRose.
"Garden street, parties going from house to house. The cops come, break it up, and leave, and the parties continue. I don't want this to continue in Thorold. We need to be proactive."
Staff will be looking at best practices from other university towns, which are dealing with the same fallout from a quick influx of thousands of students, resulting in similar tumultuous party situations as seen in Thorold, and how to use legal tools like the residential- and tenancies act.
"It is becoming more prevalent in our city and is now encompassing our entire downtown core," added Coun. Jim Handley.
"That is not the municipality I want us to be. We need to start putting down the hammer now."
