What started off as an attempt to make parking fines in the downtown more fair across the board may wind up costing drivers in the long run.
During Wednesday’s community and protective services committee meeting, councillors discussed an idea brought forward by Ward 3 representative Mo Salih. His motion calls for staff to investigate what steps could be taken by the city to ensure that parking infractions on privately-owned parking lots are enforced in the same manner as City-owned parking lots, to ensure that any fines are set at a reasonable level, and fines, or appeals of fines, are handled with fairness and consistency.
READ MORE: London city councillor to take on private parking lots
Parking notices at private lots are often more than $70, while city fines run between $30 to $40 depending on the location.
City-issued tickets fall under provincial regulations. But private notices are unenforceable, with legal experts saying drivers are under no obligation to pay them.
“These notices are not issued under the provincial offences act and they do not go to plate denial,” said Orest Katolyk, manager of bylaw enforcement.
“Plate denial is when you renew your MTO license and you realize that you’ve had a number of these (tickets) and before you get your license you have to pay up.”
Katolyk said staff and private parking company Impark have agreed to cooperate and take part in a pilot project that would see municipal tickets issued at one of their downtown lots. Drivers would be required to pay those tickets before renewing their plate stickers, but they would also have the ability to make an appeal.
Coun. Phil Squire argued the city can’t force private lots to play by the city’s rules.
“I think the answer’s really clear. We can have a discussion with someone and say, ‘look, if you want to sign on with the city and do it through us,’ great,” said Squire.
“But we have no ability to say to ‘XYZ Parking’, who operates a lot, ‘Hey, we want you to do it through us, we want to you to have an appeals process.’ Their answer can just be ‘no.'”
There was no discussion about finding a way to lower private parking notice fines. Payments for tickets issued by the city would go to the city, not the privately owned lots.
Penalties at private lots gained attention after frustrations were raised by Londoners who received notices they deemed unfair by Impark. One downtown business announced they were leaving the core because of parking issues related to Impark notices.
READ MORE: London entrepreneur moving business out of the downtown over Impark frustrations
London has a private parking enforcement program that includes more than 400 properties across the city. That program gives security companies the ability to issue city tickets for vehicles parked on private property.
“The benefit of this, being a win-win situation, gets rid of the parking problem on the property, the city keeps the fine and all the fines all go to plate denial,” said Katolyk.
Katolyk said staff will report back on the pilot project at a future date.