The end of camping season means the city's bylaw department will be moving towards taking a closer look at how residents are parking their recreational vehicles.
Bylaw services manager Fred Crittenden said his staff will be doing more proactive enforcement over the next couple of weeks when they see RVs and trailers parked on the street.
"We know, especially at this time of year that people are bringing them out, or they're bringing them back from the lake and they're taking out their equipment, they're maybe winterizing them and taking them to a place that would the right place to store it for the winter," Crittenden said. "So some of them are coming and going on a fairly quick basis."
But getting those vehicles off the street as it creeps closer to winter will become a priority, he said.
On-street parking for all vehicles (where there isn't an otherwise specified limit) is 24 continuous hours. That time period includes moving a vehicle within the same block.
"What [bylaw staff] will do is they'll take note of trailers in a certain area they happen to be in and come back and check on them to see if they're still there later," Crittenden said.
Vehicles heavier than 5,500 kilograms are subject to heavy vehicle parking rules and can only be parked on the street for three hours per day.
When it comes to RVs and trailers parked in driveways, Crittenden is reminding owners that they're allowed in the backyard, but nowhere in the front of a residential property - including the driveway - if they're longer than 6.1 metres, as per the city's zoning bylaw.
"If you have an 18-foot small travel trailer, it would be perfectly fine to be there," he said.
According to the zoning bylaw, only one camper vehicle, passenger bus or trailer is allowed on a residential property.
While parking on the street for more than one day could result in a $25 ticket, those zoning bylaw infractions could be costly.
"Under the zoning bylaw, failing to comply with the regulations there I believe is a $200 ticket and one thing to remember under the zoning bylaw, is that can be a daily fine," said Crittenden. "So if you choose not to find an appropriate place, that fine technically could be done on a daily basis. That's not anything you want we want to see. The expectations are if you have a recreational vehicle that you take into consideration what you need to do to store it and keep it and maintain it."
Vehicle and trailer owners will get fair warning before any fines are levied, Crittenden said, with steps to notify and educate residents first.
Like the majority of the city's bylaws, those actions are primarily complaint driven.
"People I think are relatively compassionate to their neighbours about realizing they have trailers and especially during the camping season it's going to come and go," Crittenden said. "But when it's there for extended period of times or it becomes its normal storage place is where it becomes an issue that we end up getting calls on and having to do the enforcement steps to make sure people are aware of what their responsibilities are and what the appropriate way is to store it."
