Each workday, Conor Smythe looks out his living room window and sees a daily problem: the numerous vehicles parked up and down his street.
The community is a short walk away from the South Campus LRT Station.
“It started a couple of years ago,” he says.
“Since last summer, it’s been just terrible.”
Smythe raises a couple of concerns; one being emergency access on the narrow streets, to worries about elderly neighbours who don’t drive.
“Their friends have no place to park when they come to visit them,” Smythe says. “So now they’re feeling locked in all winter long.”
Last November, Smythe started collecting signatures on a petition to bring in residential parking restrictions.
The names were submitted to the city in early January. There was a response only last week.
“They have a process which seems to pretty much ignore what Parkallen residents want,” Smythe says.
The city notes the validity of the petition but indicates a need for an objection period.
If, by March 5, it’s found more than one third of residents are opposed, nothing will change.
“Absolutely, there is indeed a problem there with parasitic parking,” says Councillor Michael Walters, whose constituents include Parkallen residents.
Walters says he is aware of the situation and of the frustration felt by residents. He says he is seeking some information from city staff about the process.
“And I think what this probably means, is a review of this process is probably in order,” says the Ward 10 councillor.
The city indicates if there is enough support, parking restriction signs could be in place by the end of June — five months from when the resident petition was handed in.
In the meantime, some residents have taken their own action, setting up no parking signs in front of their homes to keep parasitic parkers away.
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