Frustrations grow as NAIT students continue to park in neighbourhoods

Residents living near NAIT are raising concerns again about the high number of students parking in their neighbourhoods.

Allan Knox lives across from NAIT. He says he regularly sees a red truck parked on the street in his area.

The problem is the red truck belongs to a student, not a resident.

Knox says NAIT students continue to take advantage of the free, two-hour parking zones in his neighbourhood, and its got residents’ frustrations growing.

And while the problem isn’t new, those who live in the area say it has been made worse this winter, with streets more narrow than ever before.

"Think of you being a resident and trying to come home after you finished work and you have to park four houses away from your house or you’ve got to park in the back," Knox said.

"You don’t have that convenience to have the ability to park where you should be able to park."

Knox claims students often stay parked all day and that clogs up the rest of the neighbourhood parking.

He’s also seen some students come back and move their vehicles every two hours to beat getting a ticket, but it’s not solving the neighbourhood’s problem.

Currently students are allowed to park on neighbourhood streets by NAIT for two hours.

The city says the problem is, if students move their vehicle before their two hours are up, even if they’ve just moved down the road, that isn’t against the law.

"We can chalk the vehicle, but when we do return and the vehicle has relocated, they are in compliance with the bylaw. At that point we would chalk and repeat the process," said Josh Puchailo, the city’s parking enforcement co-ordinator.

But Puchailo says bylaw officers are doing what they can to help improve the situation and since receiving complaints from residents in the area, they’ve increased neighbourhood inspections.

"We have upped enforcement here," he said. "Now we’re making that effort to be here Monday to Friday, every day.. and we are going to continue that daily presence until we make an impact here and try to see a change in behaviour."

Knox and other residents hope the city will consider changing parking rules in the area in order to solve the problem.

"Change the signage so there’s absolutely no parking or reduce the time," Knox said.

"A lot of classes at NAIT are probably two hours, it gives them that time to get over and get back without being in violation."

But students say they simply can’t afford to park on campus, which is what makes the surrounding neighbourhoods so attractive.

"You do what you do to get by," said Wade Zatina, a NAIT student who parks in Knox’s neighbourhood every day.

"As far as I’m concerned it’s what you got to do to be a student to get by."

The Spruce Avenue Community League and local residents are meeting with the city next Tuesday to discuss ways to curb the parking problems.