It’s looking more likely that starting next June, you’ll be able to park on residential streets in Ottawa for more than three hours without worrying about getting a ticket.
Earlier today, the City of Ottawa’s Transportation Committee approved an increase to the maximum time for street parking on the weekends to six hours.
Currently, unless there’s a sign indicating otherwise, you can park for a maximum of three consecutive hours between 7am-7pm on residential streets. City staff ran a survey over the summer asking for feedback on increasing that limit to six hours on weekends and holidays.
Nearly 2,000 residents completed the survey, with 72% supporting the proposed increase. I thought it was interesting that over 200 of the surveys were completed by Stittsville residents, more than any other ward in the City. (76% of respondents from Stittsville were in favour of the change.)
I’m not surprised. Parking is a contentious issue in many Stittsville neighbourhoods, particularly new areas like Fairwinds where I live. Did you know: There were 268 parking bylaw complaints in Stittsville during the first half of this year, the most of any bylaw category.
City staff also summarized the most common themes from the written comments received:
Online Survey Comment Themes – Respondents for Change
- Implement the change 7 days a week (74)
- Increase/eliminate the 3 Hour-Parking Rule for residential & rural areas (48)
- Place No Limit for unsigned parking (35)
- Enforcement issues/enforcement of the change (25)
- Did not know about current By-law/thought it didn’t apply on weekends (16)
- Existing limit is a cash grab (11)
Online Survey Comment Themes – Respondents Against Change
- Various enforcement issues (64)
- Streets are already too narrow, will make parking congestion worse (50)
- Winter parking concerns (12)
- Not enough parking supply (12)
- Encourages non-auto modes of travel (11)
- Not long enough – support no limit (7)
You can read the full report here. The time limit change was one of several updates to the parking bylaw that will now go to full City Council for final approval.
One other thing: The committee also approved bylaw changes to clarify once and for all that yes, you can legally play road hockey on city streets. Remember the confusion on that issue from last spring?