Neighbourhood to lose on-street parking for new bike lanes

Frustration as bike lanes set to replace parking From CTV Kitchener's Leighanne Evans: Residents worry that their guests won't have anywhere to park if they lose their on-street parking.

Many people celebrate new bike lanes as a sign of growing infrastructure, but for residents of one Waterloo neighbourhood, the sight is an unwelcome one.

Neighbours in Vista Hills say they’re losing their on-street parking on both sides of the street to make room for the new lanes.

Some residents there worry that there won’t be anywhere for their guests to park when they have company.

“If I have company, if I have more than two cars, they can’t come to my house to visit,” explains Brenda Finch. “So I’ve written my councillor, Royce Bodaly, asking about, asking if I could have exemptions, say at Christmas or Thanksgiving, when I have the entire family here.”

An online petition has been started called Give Vista Hills Residents a Voice. So far, it has 64 signatures, with a goal of 100.

The city says the no-parking signs went up in mid-June, around the same time area residents began to voice their frustrations.

There’s a six-spot lot in the neighbourhood, but some say that’s not enough space. They hope that the city will be able to find a long-term solution.

Bodaly says that plans for bike lanes in the subdivision, which is one of the region’s newest, have been in place for years. He worries that some realtors may not have disclosed that to people when they were buying their homes.

He say that many homes in the area were built with two-car garages and double driveways.

The councillor says he wants to speak to his constituents face-to-face to talk about possible options, including more infrastructure that may be incoming.