EDMONTON – The stage is set for a final showdown over idling Wednesday after councillors narrowly supported the creation of a bylaw to stop drivers running their vehicles outside schools and hospitals.
The city has been looking at anti-idling legislation for years, but there wasn’t enough support for a previous attempt to ban the practice across Edmonton, due to concerns about cost and enforcement difficulties.
An education campaign wasn’t effective, so people concerned by the health and environmental effects of allowing vehicles to run unnecessarily narrowed their focus to places used mainly by children and medical patients.
“We have heard over and over again, in a very specific set of circumstances, particularly where it affects health … this is a tool there’s a lot of support for,” Coun. Ben Henderson said.
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He was among the majority that voted 6-5 to have staff work with school boards and Alberta Health Services on signs, locations and other details of a potential idling ban around their properties, which both groups support.
The issue will return to council’s executive committee, probably early next year, with proposed amendments to the community standards bylaw, the estimated cost of enforcing the new rules and an education campaign.
Council will have to approve the amendments before they become law.
“This has arguably been whittled down to the (limit),” Coun. Don Iveson said. “Many other communities … have taken a much firmer stand on this.”
Violators would face a $250 fine. At least seven cities and towns across Canada target idling by time of day, type of vehicle or location, according to a city report.
A few municipalities in Alberta, including St. Albert and Beaumont, have general anti-idling bylaws, along with such major American jurisdictions as Utah and New York City.
The draft provisions include exemptions for work and emergency trucks, running engines to operate equipment, and buses when the temperature is below freezing.
But Mayor Stephen Mandel still doesn’t think the bylaw is a good idea.
“The first time it’s 30 below zero and we give someone a ticket, we’re going to get a lot of calls.”
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