Administration

In this by-law:

“accessible parking permit” means,

1. an accessible parking permit issued under the Highway Traffic Act; or
2. a permit, number plate or other number or device issued by another jurisdiction and recognized under the Highway Traffic Act;

“accessible-passenger vehicle” means a motor vehicle that, 

1. meets the requirements for an “accessible vehicle” as prescribed in R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 629 under the Highway Traffic Act; or
2. is regularly used for transporting a person with a disability;

“authorized sign” means any sign, or roadway, curb or sidewalk marking, or other device, placed or erected on a highway under the authority of this by-law for the purpose or regulating, warning or guiding traffic of the parking of vehicles; 

“authorized vehicle” means,

1. a vehicle owned or operated by the City provided that the vehicle is performing a service related to the operation of a reserved bus lane, a transit only facility, or high-occupancy lane;
2. a vehicle owned or operated by a public utility provided that the vehicle is carrying out its utility service on a utility located on a reserved bus lane, a transit only facility or high-occupancy lane;
3. any vehicle authorized by the General Manager of Transportation Services; and
4. any vehicle that falls within the definition of an emergency vehicle as defined in the Highway Traffic Act.

“bicycle” includes a tricycle, unicycle and a power-assisted bicycle but does not include a motor-assisted bicycle, as these terms are defined under the Highway Traffic Act;

“bike box” means a designated area within or on approach to an intersection that allows one or more bicyclists to safely wait before being allowed to proceed;

“bicycle parking facilities” include ring and post racks, ring racks, and bicycle corrals that support bicycles in an upright position and enables the bicycle frame and one or both wheels to be secured and which facilities are predominantly located within the road right-of-way and may be located in select designated and delineated on-street parking spaces, but do not include light standards, utility poles, sign posts, fences, street furniture, or similar infrastructure  within the road right-of-way;

“bookmobile” means a commercial motor vehicle or tractor trailer used as a travelling public library;

“boulevard” means all parts of the highway save and except any roadway, shoulder or sidewalk, and

1. “central boulevard” means that part of the boulevard lying between the roadways of a divided highway and includes channelizing islands;
2. “outer boulevard” means that part of the boulevard lying between any sidewalk and the roadway or the near edge of the shoulder where such exists; and
3. “inner boulevard” means that part of the boulevard lying between the property line and the edge of the sidewalk nearest to the property line, and where there    is no sidewalk that part of the boulevard lying between the property line and the roadway or the edge of the shoulder, where such exists, furthest from the roadway;

“bus stop” means a part of a highway designated as a point at which public transit motor vehicles may stop to take on or let off passengers;

“bus time point zone” means that part of a highway designated for public transit motor vehicles to park temporarily prior to commencing a timed bus route, or to get back on schedule;

“Chief of Police” means the Chief of Police of the Ottawa Police Service, or an authorized representative;

“City” means the municipal corporation of the City of Ottawa or the geographic area as the context requires;

“commercial motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle having attached to it a truck or delivery body and includes an ambulance, a hearse, a casket wagon, a fire apparatus, a bus and a tractor used for hauling purposes on a highway

“compound” means that part of the outer boulevard set aside for parking purposes;

“controlled access road” means a road so designated by the City or by the Province of Ontario pursuant to applicable legislation;

“corner” means, with reference to a highway intersection, the point of intersection of the prolongation of the lateral curb lines or in the absence of curbs the prolongation of the edges of the roadways;

“crosswalk” means,

1. that part of a highway at an intersection that is included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the roadway; or
2. any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs or by lines or other markings on the surface;

"daytime" means the period of time from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. of the same day

“designated” means designated by City by-law;

“designated permit parking area” means a part of a highway designated as an area where a residential parking permit holder is authorized to park a vehicle on the side of the highway between the limits and during the times and days indicated on official signs bearing the words “Permit Holders Excepted”;

“driver” means a person who drives a vehicle on a highway;

“driveway” means a part of a highway improved to provide vehicular access from the roadway to a laneway or a parking area on adjacent land;

“electric vehicle” includes any vehicle that is partially or entirely propelled by electricity and plugs in to recharge;

“electric vehicle charging station” means any facility or equipment that is used to charge a battery or other energy storage device of an electric vehicle;

“electric vehicle parking space” means a parking space, the use of which is charging a battery or other storage device of an electric vehicle;

“farm tractor” means a self-propelled vehicle designed and used primarily as a farm implement for drawing ploughs, mowing-machines and other implements of husbandry and not designed or used for carrying a load;

“General Manager of Public Works and Environmental Services” means the General Manager of Public Works and Environmental Services Department of the City or an authorized representative;

“General Manager of Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development” means the General Manager of Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development Department of the City or an authorized representative;

“General Manager of Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services” means the General Manager of Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services Department of the City or an authorized representative;

“General Manager of Transportation Services” means the General Manager of the Transportation Services Department of the City or an authorized representative;

“goods” includes all classes of materials, wares and merchandise and livestock

“gross weight” means the combined weight of vehicle and load;

“guest parking permit” means a current permit issued by the City to residents for distribution to their guests authorizing vehicles to be parked in a specific designated parking area;

“heavy truck” means any vehicle having a gross weight in excess of four and one-half (4.5) tonnes, but does not include a bus travelling on a bus route established by the City, an ambulance, or a school bus;

“highway” includes a common and public highway, street, avenue, parkway, driveway, square, place, bridge, viaduct, or trestle, any part of which is intended for, or used by, the general public for the passage of vehicles and includes the area between the lateral property lines thereof;

“highway, one-way” means a highway upon which the movement of vehicular traffic is limited to one direction;

“high-occupancy vehicle or HOV” means a motor vehicle carrying two or more persons including the driver;

“Highway Traffic Act” means the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8 as amended;

“holiday” includes Sunday, New Year’s Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, the Day proclaimed as a Civic Holiday by the City of Ottawa, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and any day fixed as a holiday by proclamation of the Governor-General or the Lieutenant-Governor and the next following day when any such holiday, except Remembrance Day, falls on a Sunday;

“intersection” means the area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curb lines or, if none, then of the lateral boundary lines of two or more highways which join one another at an angle, whether or not one highway crosses the other;

“King’s Highway” includes the secondary highways and tertiary roads designated by the Province of Ontario under the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act, R.S.O. 1990 c. P.50 as amended;

“laneway” means improved land adjacent to the highway which provides access from the highway to a parking area on adjacent land;

“loading zone” means the part of a highway, private property or City property set apart for the exclusive purpose of parking a vehicle to load or unload the same;

“median strip” means the portion of a highway so constructed as to separate traffic travelling in one direction from traffic travelling in the opposite direction by a physical barrier or a raised or depressed paved or unpaved separation area that is not intended to allow crossing vehicular movement;

“motor assisted bicycle” means a bicycle,

1. that is fitted with pedals, which are operable at all times, to propel the bicycle;
2. that weighs not more than fifty-five (55) kilograms;
3. that has no hand or foot operated clutch or gearbox driven by the motor and transferring power to the driven wheel;
4. that has an attached motor driven by electricity or having a piston displacement of not more than fifty (50) cubic centimetres; and
5. that does not have sufficient power to enable the bicycle to attain a speed greater than fifty (50) kilometres per hour on level ground within a distance of two (2) kilometres from a standing start;

“motorcycle” means a self-propelled vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the driver and designed to travel on not more than three (3) wheels in contact with the ground, and includes a motor scooter but does not include a motor assisted bicycle;

“motor vehicle” includes an automobile, motorcycle, motor assisted bicycle unless otherwise indicated in the Highway Traffic Act, and any other vehicle propelled or driven otherwise than by muscular power, but does not include a streetcar, or other motor vehicles running only upon rails, or a motorized snow vehicle, traction engine, farm tractor, self-propelled implement of husbandry or road-building machine within the meaning of the Highway Traffic Act;

“official sign” means a sign on the highway approved by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario;

"overnight" means the period from 7:00 p.m. of one day to 7:00 a.m. of the following day;

“paid parking zone” means that part of the highway depicted by authorized signs or by pavement markings where parking is regulated by a parking payment device;

“park” or “parking” when prohibited, means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when standing temporarily for the purpose of and while actively engaged in loading or unloading merchandise or passengers;

“parking meter” means an electronic or a mechanical device together with its support, erected to control and regulate the parking of a vehicle in a parking space;

“parking meter hood” means a bag or other covering for a parking meter that is placed over a parking meter by the General Manager of Public Works and Environmental Services to indicate that a parking meter is not to be used;

“parking meter space” means a parking space, the use of which for parking a vehicle is controlled and regulated by a parking meter;

“parking meter zone” means that part of a highway where parking is controlled and regulated by a parking meter;

“parking payment device” means, as the context requires,

1. a parking meter, or,
2. a pay and display machine;

“parking space” means that part of the surface of the roadway, private property or City property designated for the purpose of vehicle parking;

“pay and display machine” means, as the context requires,

1. an automatic or other electronic, electro-mechanical or mechanical device, for the purpose of controlling and regulating the parking of any vehicle in a paid parking zone and which, when a coin, token, credit card, parking card or proximity card has been inserted or swiped into it and the machine activated, issues a receipt indicating the date and time of that activation and the duration of the parking in the paid parking zone; or
2. the pay-by-phone component of the City’s Parking Operations System approved by City Council, for the purposes of controlling and regulating the parking of any vehicle in a paid parking zone and which provides for payment for parking in a paid parking zone when the required fee has been deposited to the City’s pay-by-phone interface by means of payment by phone using a credit card and the transaction has been completed so as to activate payment.

b“pedestrian” means,

1. a person on foot;
2. a person in a wheelchair; or
3. a child in a carriage, stroller or play vehicle;

"pedestrian crossover" means any portion of a roadway, designated by this by‑law, at an intersection or elsewhere, distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs on the highway and lines or other markings on the surface of the roadway as prescribed by regulations made under the Highway Traffic Act.

“Pedestrian Mall” means those parts of the highway that are established under this by-law for the exclusive use of pedestrians;

“person with a disability” means an individual who has been issued and holds a valid accessible parking permit under the Highway Traffic Act;

“police officer”, “constable” or “special constable” means a person so appointed by the Ottawa Police Service and “constable” includes a municipal by-law enforcement officer appointed pursuant to subsection 15(1) of the Police Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P. 15 as amended;

“Police Service” means the Ottawa Police Service;

“police vehicle” means a vehicle owned or operated by the Ottawa Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police;

“public parking area” means an open area or structure, other than a street, used by the public at the invitation of the owner for the temporary parking of more than four (4) passenger vehicles whether free, for compensation, or as an accommodation for clients, customers or visitors;

“public transit motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle owned and operated by the City or the Société de transport de l'Outaouais as part of their regular passenger transport services;

“public utility” means a board, commission or corporation, including a municipal corporation, that owns or operates a public works;

“public works” means works supplying the general public with necessities or conveniences and includes, but is not limited to, works for the production, supply and transmission of gas, oil, sewer, water and electric power or energy and all telephone, cable television and other telecommunications lines, and “public work” has a similar meaning;

“residential parking permit” means a current permit issued by the City authorizing a permit holder to park a vehicle in a specific designated parking area;

“road-building machine” means a self-propelled vehicle of a design commonly used in the construction or maintenance of highways that:

1. belongs to a class of vehicle prescribed in the HTA regulations,
2. has the features or equipment prescribed in the HTA regulations, or
3. is being used as prescribed in the HTA regulations;

“roadway” means that part of the highway that is improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, but does not include the shoulder, and, where a highway includes two or more separate roadways, the term “roadway” refers to any one roadway separately and not to all of the roadways collectively;

“roadway, laned” means a highway which has been divided into separate lanes for vehicular traffic which lanes are indicated by lines or other markings on the surface of the roadway or in any other manner;

“roundabout” is an intersection with one-way circulation counter-clockwise around a central island where entering traffic must yield the right-of-way to the traffic circulating within the intersection;

“school bus” means a bus that,

1. is a motor vehicle designed for carrying ten (10) or more passengers;
2. has a gross weight in excess of four and one-half (4.5) tonnes;
3. is painted chrome yellow; and
4. displays on the front and rear thereof the words “school bus” and on the rear thereof the words “do not pass when signals flashing”;

“school purposes bus” or “school purposes vehicle” means,

1. a school bus, or
2. any other bus or vehicle operated by or under contract with a school board or other authority in charge of a school while it is being used to transport adults with a developmental disability or children and is clearly identified by markings to be a vehicle operated by or under contract of a school board or other authority in charge of a school;

“shoulder” means that part of the highway immediately adjacent to the roadway and having a surface which has been improved for the use of vehicles with asphalt, concrete or gravel;

“side approach” means the side of a part of a highway to which vehicular traffic may lawfully approach;

“side leaving” means the side of a part of a highway opposite the approach side;

“sidewalk” means those parts of a highway set aside by the City for the use of pedestrians;

“sign, point” means a point on the curb or edge of the roadway opposite a sign;

“special event” includes a demonstration, parade, sports event, festival, carnival, donation station, street dance, residential block party, sidewalk sale, outdoor mass and other like events;

“stand” or “standing”, when prohibited, means the halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except for the purpose of and while actually actively engaged in receiving or discharging passengers;

“stop” or “stopping”, when prohibited, means the halting of a vehicle, even momentarily, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a constable or other police officer or of a traffic control sign or signal;

“taxicab” means a motor vehicle with seating capacity of a maximum of six (6) passengers, plus the driver, that has a validly issued taxi license and that is intended to be used or is actually used for hire for the purpose of transporting a person for compensation and includes an accessible taxicab and a standard taxicab, but does not include a limousine or a Private Transportation Company (PTC) Vehicle, as defined by the Vehicle-for-Hire By-law;

“taxi zone” means a part of a highway designated as an exclusive stopping area for taxicabs at which passengers board or exit taxicabs;

“tour bus” means a bus with the name and address of its operator or owner plainly displayed in letters and figures not less than five (5) centimetres in height in a conspicuous place on both sides of the vehicle, but does not include a public transit motor vehicle or a shuttle bus service;

“traffic” includes pedestrians, animals which are ridden, led or herded, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using a highway for the purposes of travel;

“traffic control device” means any sign, signal or other roadway, curb, or sidewalk marking, or any other device erected or placed under the authority of this by-law for the purpose of warning, regulating, guiding or directing traffic;

“traffic control signal” means any device operated manually, electrically, mechanically or electronically for the regulation or control of traffic;

“traffic, one-way” means movement by vehicles upon a highway in one direction only;

“trailer” means a vehicle that is at any time drawn upon a highway by a motor vehicle, except an implement of husbandry, a mobile home, another motor vehicle, or any device or apparatus not designed to transport persons or property, temporarily drawn, propelled or moved upon such highway, and except a side car attached to a motorcycle, and shall be considered a separate vehicle and not part of the motor vehicle by which it is drawn;

“transit only facility” means the entire area between the boundary lines which are owned, leased, or otherwise used including the roads, bridges, transit terminals, and other appurtenances designed and intended for, or primarily used by, the City for its transit service;

“truck route” means a truck route established by Section 54 of this by-law;

“U-turn” means the turning of a vehicle within the highway so as to proceed in the opposite direction to that in which the vehicle was travelling immediately prior to making the turn;

“accessible urban transit bus” or an “accessible vehicle” means, a vehicle equipped with a ramp, power lift or any other special device to assist a driver with a disability or passenger with a disability in entering and leaving a vehicle; as defined in R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 629 to the Highway Traffic Act;

“vehicle” includes a motor vehicle, trailer, traction engine, farm tractor, road-building machine, bicycle and any vehicle drawn, propelled or driven by any kind of power, including muscular power, but does not include a motorized snow vehicle or a street car;

“wheelchair” means a chair mounted on wheels or other remedial appliance or device, driven by muscular or any other kind of power that is designed for and used by a person whose mobility is limited by one or more conditions or functional impairments, but does not include a motor vehicle.

1. In this by-law:
   1. words importing the singular number or the masculine gender only, include   more persons, parties or things of the same kind than one and females as well       as males and the converse;
   2. a word interpreted in the singular number has a corresponding meaning when used in the plural;
   3. “may” shall be construed as permissive;
   4. “shall” shall be construed as imperative;
   5. “vehicle”, when used as part of a prohibition of parking or stopping, includes any part thereof; and
   6. “subsection” when used without reference to another section, refers to a subsection contained in the same section in which the phrase is used.
2. In the Schedules to this by-law, the following abbreviations, definitions and symbols stand for the words respectively set forth opposite thereto as follows:
   1. Ave. - Avenue
   2. Blvd. - Boulevard
   3. Ct. - Court
   4. Cres. - Crescent
   5. Dr. - Drive
   6. Gdns. - Gardens
   7. Hts. - Heights
   8. Hwy. - Highway
   9. Pl. - Place
   10. Priv. - Private
   11. Rd. - Road
   12. Sq. - Square
   13. St. - Street
   14. Terr. - Terrace
   15. cm - centimetre
   16. m - metre
   17. km - kilometre
   18. km/h - kilometre per hour
   19. N. - North
   20. S. - South
   21. E. - East
   22. W. - West
   23. a.m. - Ante Meridian
   24. p.m. - Post Meridian
   25. Twp. - Township
   26. Con. - Concession
   27. B.F. - Broken Front
   28. O.F. - Ottawa Front
   29. R.F. - Rideau Front
   30. Mon. - Monday
   31. Tues. - Tuesday
   32. Wed. - Wednesday
   33. Thurs. - Thursday
   34. Fri. - Friday
   35. Sat. - Saturday
   36. Sun. - Sunday
3. Where a distance is used in this by-law as part of a prohibition of parking or stopping within a specified distance of an object, structure, land or a part of a highway, such distance shall be measured:
   1. along the curb or edge of the roadway from a point in such curb or edge of roadway opposite such object, structure, land or part of a highway, unless the context otherwise requires; and
   2. from such point in the curb or edge of roadway in all directions.
4. The various prohibitions of this by-law are cumulative and not mutually self-exclusive.
5. It is declared that if any section, subsection or part or parts thereof be declared by any court of law to be bad, illegal or ultra vires, such section, subsection or part or parts shall be deemed to be severable and all parts hereof are declared to be separate and independent and enacted as such.
6. Municipal law enforcement officer and municipal by-law enforcement officer have similar meanings.
7. The Schedules referred to in this by-law shall form part of this by-law and each entry in a column of such a Schedule shall be read in conjunction with the entry or entries across therefrom, and not otherwise.

Where any expression of time occurs or where any hour or other period of time is stated, the time referred to shall be standard time, provided however, if what is known as “daylight saving time” has been generally adopted in the City of Ottawa for any period of the year, under any statute, order-in-council, by-law, resolution or proclamation, whether the same is effective in law or not, such time shall be the time referred to during such period in any reference to time in this by-law.