Front yard parking in Windsor will be ticketed in February

Parking in the front yard will cost Windsor residents a $25 fine starting next month.

City council passed a motion banning vehicle parkingonlawns in December, and tickets will be handed out starting February 1.

• New bylaw would fine people $100 for parking on the lawn

The bylaw will help protect city property and also increase the aesthetic value of neighbourhoods, saidBill Kralovensky, supervisor of compliance and enforcement for the City of Windsor.

"It also becomes a safety issue," he said. "You've got six cars parked on the front lawn and emergency services have to climb over cars to get into the house to save somebody? God forbid that happen."

Enforcingthe bylaw had previously been lefttothe building department which could onlylay charges on vehicle owners in person. That wasn't very effective because finding the actual owner of a car could be difficult, explained Kralovensky.

Now, staff have the ability to directly ticket any vehicle found in a yard, he added.

"Anything that has wheels on it and moves by a motor classifies as a vehicle, plus a trailer parked with a boat or camping trailer," Kralovensky said.

Before tickets are handed out, there will be a short warning period where staff will start on the west-end and work their way across the city handing out warnings.

ButKralovensky warnedworkers will be recording addresses where vehicles are on the lawnand if they're still there when staff visit again, they'll be ticketed.

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