Residental Parking Bylaw

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by photon

What about people that put up their own no parking signs and/or pylons? Should one call 311 about that?

Been doing some work for a client where there's residential and commercial all close together, and there's not a ton of non-2hr max parking around so finding a spot within a few blocks of where you want to go can take a little while.

There's one house where a guy owns some kind of business with big trucks and whenever some of the trucks are gone he blocks off the spaces with pylons and no parking signs. Sometimes I've seen the whole half block full of trucks, sometimes only one truck and the rest of the block with signs.

Might they have a prior arrangement with the city to do that? On one hand I get he's just trying to run a business, on the other it seems to suck for others trying to find somewhere to park and have half a block roped off.

I kinda wanted to just move a sign and park there to see what would happen.

I've never heard of anything like that, and if he does have a permit to do it, 311 would know about it. I'd give them a call and see. Most likely, he's just playing on folks being good people and figuring that the signs are legit to give himself parking where and when he wants it.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Minnie

What is the law about parking on curves?

That's a good question, I live near a curved corner and it seems hit or miss if people follow the unwritten rule of not parking on it, as it totally makes the corner a lot more dangerous.

Calgary's bylaw is that you can't park within 5m of a corner, but on the big curved corners in residential roads, not idea how'd you'd measure or enforce that.


prohibited: at an intersection nearer than 5 metres to the projection of the corner
property line immediately ahead or immediately to the rear, except when
the driver’s vehicle is parked in a space where a parking meter or other
Traffic Control Device indicates parking is permitted;

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by Drury18

This is unfortunately not the Bylaw according to Bylaw officers. I had a truck in front of my house with Ontario plates that did not move for 3 weeks. I called it into Calgary Parking Authority (311 will do nothing but give you the number for the Parking Authority) who took the plate, told me the truck wasn't stolen and that they would only tow it away if it was inoperable or if it doesn't move in another 2 weeks, I could call back and try again. Someone could have just moved to the neighbourhood or be on vacation and it would be wrong to tow it.

When I mentioned the 72 hour bylaw I was told by 3 different people on the phone that it is NOT the bylaw and that it is up to the discretion of the person who takes the complaint and bylaw officer to decide if action will be taken. One went so far as to say the City needs to update the website because that bylaw hasn't been in effect for almost 2 years.

The reason they are telling you it's not a bylaw is because it is covered under the Traffic Safety Act. Sections 76 describes the 72 hour timeframe for determining a vehicle to be abandoned and Section 77 describes options available for a peace officer to remove a vehicle in a variety of circumstances.

If the 311 operator or the CPA operator declines to take a complaint, it is not up to them. Get their name, file a complaint. The determination of action is up to the peace officer or authorized individual who responds to the complaint.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

The reason they are telling you it's not a bylaw is because it is covered under the Traffic Safety Act. Sections 76 describes the 72 hour timeframe for determining a vehicle to be abandoned and Section 77 describes options available for a peace officer to remove a vehicle in a variety of circumstances.

If the 311 operator or the CPA operator declines to take a complaint, it is not up to them. Get their name, file a complaint. The determination of action is up to the peace officer or authorized individual who responds to the complaint.

The problem is the definition of Abandoned is not simply "not moved within 72 hours". There is judgement involved regarding that classification, but as long as the bylaw officer can confirm it is not stolen, is operable, and can get in touch with the owner and confirm they're aware its there, they won't tow it.

What happens is you lodge an abandoned vehicle complaint with CPA. They'll come out and throw an abandoned vehicle (orange) tag on it. As long as the owner sees the and and calls the CPA line on the tag to talk to CPA, it likely won't get towed. Next time you call it in and give the plate number, they'll tell you to pound sand or go through the same process.

[photon]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

I've never heard of anything like that, and if he does have a permit to do it, 311 would know about it. I'd give them a call and see. Most likely, he's just playing on folks being good people and figuring that the signs are legit to give himself parking where and when he wants it.

Here's the street:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.00405...2e9oyEmawA!2e0

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by photon

Here's the street:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.00405...2e9oyEmawA!2e0

Curious now, I gave 311 a call. If the vehicles are street legal, he can park them there no problem. The pylons and signs are quite illegal and something that they'd love to investigate.

If you have a street legal vehicle, you are allowed to park it, but you are not allowed to "call dibs" on parking spaces.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Besides being a GMG issue, I hate how so many more people now adays use garage for storage and driveway/road for parking.

Not if you've gotten any answers, but I'll just list the things I remember from my various parking adventures in my last 2 houses and days as a renter.

Normally you can use some of these in your situation and adapt them as needed.

• - Doesn't matter how long cars sit as long as registered, operable and owner knows its there. Even if commercial vehicle. (ie no license plate it'll get towed, or flat tires gets towed). Not sure if you can leave unattached trailers on road for more than 24h
• - No broken down or inoperable vehicles on roadway or even on your own driveway (which many don't know the latter).
• - No RVs or trailers parked in front of house, must at least be behind front setback of the house (the face).
• - Can't park within 1.5m of anyone's driveway
• - Cul-de-sac: Can't park on angle unless signage indicates allowed (aka virtually none). This basically is your carte blanch for cul-de-sac violations, as most people park on an angle, and if they park properly along road, they're usually within 1.5m of a driveway.
• - Can't park and block sidewalk.

Originally Posted by btimbit

Too many people using garages as storage is a big issue.

My brother has lots of toys. Between him and his wife, 4 vehicles, 2 motorcycles and an RV. So he bought a corner lot with an alley so he wouldn't need to leave anything on the street. 2 cars and bikes in garage, 2 on driveway, RV in the back (And behind a fence and gate) Corner lot so if he has people over there's lots of parking in front and next to his house, nobody ever needs to park in front of someone else's house.

To many people are just inconsiderate and/or don't care.

Part of the reason that garages are used for storage is that there are some vehicles that simply won't fit easily into the garage anyway. I know that my truck is too long to make it in, and if it was jammed in it would be ridiculously tight. Why bother? Might as well park in the driveway in that case.

I do understand the issue with some families having too many cars, but then again my neighbours are wonderful people. As their kids get older they want to drive a car, and of course they now have four vehicles in that family and not enough room to park them. They park wherever they find space on the roads and I don't think its a big deal.

[btimbit]

^Driveway is fine, but when you start spilling onto the street and don't have any vehicles in the garage it's time to re-evaluate something and move some stuff.

I love cars so I completely get it, but I also know if I want to get another I have to get rid of one, it's a little ridiculous for a family the size of mine to have any more vehicles than I already do:P

That's just part of city living, even in the suburbs, I realize my neighbors might not get the same joy out of my toys as I do, so I don't let them spill onto the streets. I'd hate to be 'that' guy, that has 4 half broken trucks beside his house and a boat on the driveway year 'round

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by btimbit

^Driveway is fine, but when you start spilling onto the street and don't have any vehicles in the garage it's time to re-evaluate something and move some stuff.

I love cars so I completely get it, but I also know if I want to get another I have to get rid of one, it's a little ridiculous for a family the size of mine to have any more vehicles than I already do:P

That's just part of city living, even in the suburbs, I realize my neighbors might not get the same joy out of my toys as I do, so I don't let them spill onto the streets. I'd hate to be 'that' guy, that has 4 half broken trucks beside his house and a boat on the driveway year 'round

Problem also arises when driveways are sometimes built too small for vehicles. There are driveways in town that you can't park a quad cab truck on without sticking out onto the sidewalk. In that case, the only place to park is on the street.

[photon]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

Curious now, I gave 311 a call. If the vehicles are street legal, he can park them there no problem. The pylons and signs are quite illegal and something that they'd love to investigate.

If you have a street legal vehicle, you are allowed to park it, but you are not allowed to "call dibs" on parking spaces.

Yeah I think one of them had a snow plow and other stuff that could easily drag my car somewhere and hide it so not sure I'd want to be the one to move a pylon and park

But they all looked street legal, just as you say blocking parking to reserve it isn't. In addition to the pylons he had those small temporary no parking signs, the ones that are street signs on small white wooden stands they put out sometimes.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah I think one of them had a snow plow and other stuff that could easily drag my car somewhere and hide it so not sure I'd want to be the one to move a pylon and park

But they all looked street legal, just as you say blocking parking to reserve it isn't. In addition to the pylons he had those small temporary no parking signs, the ones that are street signs on small white wooden stands they put out sometimes.

Eh, what I'd do in that case is wait for a situation like in the picture, when he's got 2-3 spots blocked off, and give 311 a call to let them know. Let them deal with it, and if the problem continues, keep calling every time he sets his stuff up. The fines will get high enough that he'll stop doing it sooner or later.

He's only getting away with it because folks aren't calling his little signs and pylons in.

[DoubleF]

I have a friend who dealt with crap like this. Neighbor had something like 7 cars and left registered cars in front of their home (not blocking driveway). City couldn't do anything if the car was still registered and not violating any no park signs or anything. Talked to the neighbor, nothing came out of it. They did successfully enforce a rule once, the neighbor parked right on their (my friend's) driveway. When they approached the neighbor, the neighbor laughed. City of Calgary sent a tow truck and the neighbor somehow weaseled out of that one, but never parked on their drive way again. You're pretty much screwed unless you can somehow enforce it in a way where you designated the area in front of your home a handicap parking or something.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by Drury18

This is unfortunately not the Bylaw according to Bylaw officers. I had a truck in front of my house with Ontario plates that did not move for 3 weeks. I called it into Calgary Parking Authority (311 will do nothing but give you the number for the Parking Authority) who took the plate, told me the truck wasn't stolen and that they would only tow it away if it was inoperable or if it doesn't move in another 2 weeks, I could call back and try again. Someone could have just moved to the neighbourhood or be on vacation and it would be wrong to tow it.

When I mentioned the 72 hour bylaw I was told by 3 different people on the phone that it is NOT the bylaw and that it is up to the discretion of the person who takes the complaint and bylaw officer to decide if action will be taken. One went so far as to say the City needs to update the website because that bylaw hasn't been in effect for almost 2 years.

I spoke at length with bylaw about this a few months ago. What I was told is that they got dinged in court (the person I talked to promised to get me a copy of the case, but never did; perhaps it wasn't a reported decision) for towing a car based on the 72 hour rule. The judge said before a car can be declared abandoned there has to be more than the fact that it sat in one spot for just three days. What if the person was on vacation, for instance? I was told that so long as the vehicle was operable and was registered with an address nearby, there was really no way they would touch it.

[temple5]

I have had vehicles towed 4X since we moved to our house for vehicles parking partly in front of our driveway (twice you could tell the person was intoxicated because the truck was angled out partly on the sidewalk and partly on the street).

The nieghbour on either side get the courtesy of inquiring if its their vehicle. If not then it gets called and towed.

We have gotten to the point where we will park our two vehicles on the street in front of our house to "reserve the spots" when we know we will be having guests over instead of parking both in the garage like we normally do.

I have no problem playing parking wars in front of our house. Across the street from our double garage home are 4 no garage homes on skinny lots. These homeowners are saving money at the expense of the neighbours street parking if they choose to have more vehicles that will fit in front of their own home.

A particular work vehicle was constantly "jerk parked" (parking in the middle of two adjacent stalls so only one vehicle could fit) in front of our house for quite a while, I talked to the neighbour (who was also a bit miffed) and decided to "jerk park" for most of the winter instead of in the garage.

[The Ditch]

in this situation you come across as the ####### not your neighbours

[temple5]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I have a friend who dealt with crap like this. Neighbor had something like 7 cars and left registered cars in front of their home (not blocking driveway). City couldn't do anything if the car was still registered and not violating any no park signs or anything. Talked to the neighbor, nothing came out of it. They did successfully enforce a rule once, the neighbor parked right on their (my friend's) driveway. When they approached the neighbor, the neighbor laughed. City of Calgary sent a tow truck and the neighbor somehow weaseled out of that one, but never parked on their drive way again. You're pretty much screwed unless you can somehow enforce it in a way where you designated the area in front of your home a handicap parking or something.

If someone parks in your driveway I suggest buying one of these http://www.universalboot.com/

[chemgear]

Why don't you guys just slash everybody's tires in a one block radius?

[Red]

Would be nice if 50ft lots and rear garages became more common again. These parking issues are very common in the burbs where besides the front garage and driveway there is one parking spot for every 2 houses. The garage can almost never hold 2 cars and the driveway can't be utilized fully as it would block the car that's in the garage.

If you think this is bad, wait 10 years. Young family neighborhoods like Cranston, Auburn, Evanston etc will double up on cars when kids grow up. Fun times.

[calgarygeologist]

The burbs sound like such a pleasant place to live based on the constant stream of complaints coming for the residents (noise, schools, parking, traffic, etc.)

[kevman]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

The burbs sound like such a pleasant place to live based on the constant stream of complaints coming for the residents (noise, schools, parking, traffic, etc.)

I came in to make some inner-city comment about being lucky to park on my block let alone in front of my house but after reading the thread decided the real problem is you all own too many cars!

If you can't park in front of your house clean your damn garage and stop buying so much garbage. Easy.