Dear Editor:
Re: Co-operation Urged to Ease Neighbours’ Construction Woes, Aug. 2 Mailbox.
As a long-time resident who needs street parking in the target area around the West Vancouver municipal hall and fire department, I can attest to the validity of Willow Hayden’s concerns regarding parking issues. I see it not so much an issue of non-co-operation as much as a system of parking information and monitoring designed to fail from the outset.
By what osmotic process is a stranger to this municipality to know there are default parking restrictions in the residential areas of this community? There are no signs posting parking restrictions in West Vancouver — except the business areas along and adjacent to Marine Drive. Is it reasonable to expect drivers to contact the municipal hall upon arrival for parking information? Even most residents of West Vancouver are not aware of the six-hour parking limit.
Many communities with blanket parking restrictions at least post signs to that effect at the area boundaries, if not on the streets themselves. What would be the cost of a single sign at each of the freeway exits, each end of Marine Drive and maybe a few in key problem areas?
Insofar as monitoring is concerned, overtime parking violations are addressed by resident complaint to the bylaws department. (Contacting the West Vancouver police will not do: They will deny it’s their responsibility and direct you to bylaws.) So, if a car parks in front of your house for more than six hours, you call bylaws and, if the call is during office hours and, maybe, if an officer is available, then one will come around and “mark” the offending car.
Then, another six hours later, if it’s still during office hours and if an officer is still available, the car will receive a ticket. I have personally registered many complaints over the past 10 plus years and have witnessed only two cars actually ticketed. These were, I believe, parked long term to make use of the 257 bus to Horseshoe Bay and B.C. Ferries.
More usually, within the 12 hours the system takes to work, the driver has finished their shift and gone home completely ignorant of the hassle they may have caused.
Reducing the parking restriction from the current six hours to two or three hours would be a help to the residents. Another would be for bylaws to accept emailed images taken by residents of the offending vehicles using phone Apps such as ContextCam or Nav Camera that show the metadata (date, time, GPS position, etc.) directly on the image.
Bylaws would then verify the images and the driver would then get a ticket in the mail.
Proper signage and effective bylaw enforcement: A couple of simple solutions.
Ron Platt
West Vancouver
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