City to examine potential fee for homes with a certain number of vehicles

A city councillor looks into charging for on-street parking if a household exceeds too many vehicles. CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco explains.

Should residents of a home with a certain number of vehicles have to pay a fee to help address issues around the demand for on-street parking in Windsor?

Ward 8 Councillor Gary Kaschak said he’s dealing with four issues around on-street parking in his ward.

During Monday’s council meeting, he delivered a petition from residents on Rose Court between Jos. St. Louis Avenue and Clemenceau Boulevard who are upset over limited on-street parking.

Kaschak told the council they are seeing more and more cases of homes with eight to 12 people living in a single residence, with each person having their own vehicle, and in some cases parking commercial vehicles on city streets, which is putting a strain on the on-street parking system.

“They’re working, have a company, or are self-employed and parking commercial vehicles on the street, taking up potential residential parking spots as well,” he said.

“We want people to work, and we want self-employment, but should all those vehicles be parked on residential streets as well.”

He asked administration to look at options to alleviate the problem and the potential for a city bylaw for a maximum of four to six vehicles per residence, and anything above that would be subject to a yearly fee to be paid or added to their property tax bill.

Kaschak said he just wants to see options to address the problem.

“Where the people can park their vehicles, the people who live in front of those homes or nearby, but also people with a lot of residents in their home, they may have to pay an extra fee moving forward to accommodate their vehicles and to be good neighbours as well,” he said.

A report is expected to come back to a future meeting of city council.

- Written by Rusty Thomson/AM800 News.