There won’t be any changes coming to how long you can park on Gravenhurst’s side streets.
During the Aug. 13 council meeting, councillor Penny Varney introduced a motion that asked staff to review the three-hour parking time limit.
Varney says it was brought to her attention as some people called complaining they received tickets while working.
“I just feel that the three-hour parking limit is too limited,” says Varney. “We are ticketing people who are trying to work in the town, who are trying to visit the town, and they’re not on main corridors. They’re on side streets that aren’t busy.”
She says she is not asking for a by-law change as she understands they are to prevent cars, work trucks or trailers from being parked in front of people’s houses for long periods of time.
“I am just asking for a little bit more compassion for businesses that are in the urban area,” adds Varney.
Councillor Peter Johnston says a lot of the calls and emails he has received are about the same parking issue.
“It’s a matter we need to discuss,” says Johnston.
Melissa Halford, director of development services, says the town has had the parking time limit for several years and that it is “industry standard across the province.”
“Every year, we issue between 520 and 550 parking tickets. Not all of those are related to three-hour parking, but I just mean parking in general,” continues Halford. “We’re right on par with that. No more, no less, for this year.”
Mayor Heidi Lorenz did not agree with the motion and said if they approve that, they will be “opening a can of worms,” causing more problems than what they have now.
“I don’t think 500 tickets in a community that hosts probably 100,000 visitors a year is an excess,” says Lorenz. “It’s not unusual to Gravenhurst.”
The council voted almost unanimously to not support the motion.
