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COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
That
Council approve that staff be directed to review the by-law prohibiting parking
on front lawns in rural areas by owners.
RECOMMANDATION DU
COMITÉ
Que le Conseil approuve que le personnel soit dirigé d'examiner le règlement
municipal interdisant le stationnement sur les pelouses dans les zones rurales par
les propriétaires.
Documentation
1. Councillor G. Brooks’ report dated 24
September 2010 (ACS2010-CMR-ARA-0002).
2. Extract of Draft Minute, 18 November
2010.
Agriculture and Rural
Affairs Committee
Comité de l'agriculture et des affaires rurales
and Council / et au
Conseil
24 September 2010 / le 24 septembre 2010
Submitted by/Soumis par : Quartier Rideau-Goulbourn
Ward
Councillor / Conseiller Glenn Brooks
Contact Person / Personne ressource : Glenn
Brooks,
Councillor,
Rideau-Goulbourn Ward / Conseiller, quartier Rideau-Goulbourn
(613)
580-2491, Glenn.Brooks@ottawa.ca
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Ref N°: ACS2010-CMR-ARA-0002 |
That
the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee recommend Council approve that
staff be directed to review the by-law prohibiting parking on front lawns in
rural areas by owners.
Que le Comité de
l'agriculture et des affaires rurales recommande au Conseil d’approuver que le
personnel soit dirigé d'examiner le règlement municipal interdisant le
stationnement sur les pelouses dans les zones rurales par les propriétaires.
At the 23 September 2010 meeting of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, Councillor Brooks submitted the following Notice of Motion for consideration at the Committee’s next regular meeting:
THEREFORE
BE IT RESOLVED that the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee direct staff to
review the by-law prohibiting parking on front lawns in rural areas by owners.
According to the City’s Zoning By-law, there are no front yard parking restrictions in the rural area. However, the Zoning By-law does regulate what surface material a parking space must be made of to be considered legal. This is the actual source of the violation referred to within this report. The Zoning By-law states, that all parking spaces must have a surface which is:
(a) hard, stable and dust preventative; and
(b) usable in all seasons.
In 2009, By-law Services received a total of 8 complaints in the rural area concerning cars parked on grassed front lawns, instead of ‘hard, stable and dust preventative’ driveway surfaces. One of these complaints was received within Ward 21. By-law Services has indicated that the person filed the complaint because of concerns with vehicle runoff in close proximity to their wellhead. It should be noted that this type of violation is policed on a complaint basis, as By-law Services does not actively pursue these types of minor zoning infractions.
After reviewing the facts, the
Rural Affairs Office suggests that the current complaint-driven approach
continue to be implemented, given the low incidence of these offenses. It is noted that amending the Zoning By-law
with regard to requirements for the surfaces of parking spaces, driveways and
aisles will do little to address concerns associated with wellhead
contamination. However, deterring
residents from parking on grass is a reasonable approach to minimizing the
visual impacts associated with parking on front lawns.
This item will be advertised in the local dailies as part of the Public Meeting Advertisement on Friday preceding the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Meeting.
There are no legal or risk management
impediments to implementing the recommendation of this report.
There are no financial implications with the approval of the recommendation contained in this report.
Staff to take appropriate action as directed by the Committee and Council.
Parking provisions in Zoning By-law 2008-250 -
Parking in
Rural Areas
DISPOSITIONS RELATIVES AU
STATIONNEMENT DANS LE RÈGLEMENT DU ZONAGE 2008-250 - STATIONNEMENT DANS LES
ZONES RURALES
ACS2010-CMR-ARA-0002 WEST CARLETON-MARCH (5), CUMBERLAND (19)
OSGOODE
(20), RIDEAU-GOULBOURN (21)
Councillor Brooks expressed that it was unacceptable that rural residents were prohibited by City By-law from keeping their vehicles cool in summer months by protecting them on shaded areas of their own properties, some of which were large, and where such actions would not be visually offensive to any other party. He requested that staff be asked to examine potential anomalies to the By-law to allow for such an exception in rural areas. He clarified that he was referring to operational vehicles in good working order, and not derelict or broken vehicles.
Mr. Tim Marc, Senior Legal Counsel, Corporate Development and Environmental Law, City Clerk and Solicitor’s Department, confirmed that the City’s Property Standards By-law would deal with derelict vehicles to prohibit or deal with such circumstances in the case of the latter.
That the Agriculture and
Rural Affairs Committee recommend Council approve that staff be directed to
review the by-law prohibiting parking on front lawns in rural areas by owners.
CARRIED