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Tickets, towing put man at odds with city hall

A man who is new to Prince George plans to fight city hall over $331 in parking fines and towing fees he ran up violating the city's winter parking regulation.
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James Vanveen plans to dispute the two tickets he was issued and the cost of recovering his vehicle from a local towing company for parking on Laurier Crescent, west of 10th Avenue, last week.

A man who is new to Prince George plans to fight city hall over $331 in parking fines and towing fees he ran up violating the city's winter parking regulation.

James Vanveen says he had been parking on Laurier Crescent to the west of 10th Avenue on a fairly consistent basis for a matter of weeks.

But over the course of three days last week he was issued two tickets, each carrying a $50 fine, and then saw his car towed, forcing him to pay $231 to get it out of the compound.

It was the latest setback in his search for a safe place to park during the day while he is at work in the area since moving to Prince George in October.

He had been parking east of 10th where parking is limited to three hours per day, but after getting two tickets for exceeding the limit due to a lack of time to get out and move his car, he switched to the west side where there is no posted time limit.

Vanveen had thought he had found the answer to his problem - until last week that is. Since then, he has learned that parking on residential streets is prohibited from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Oct. 15 to April 15 in the name of keeping the routes clear for the snow plows.

But he is critical of the city's efforts to make it known to the public. The reason printed on the tickets he received was limited "daytime winter parking 8 a.m. to 6 p.m."

"How does a person new to Prince George obtain this information?" Vanveen said. "There's no street signage. How is a person supposed to know this?"

Vanveen wasn't the only one to find a ticket on his windshield or worse.

Over the first two weeks of January, city bylaw enforcement officers had issued 371 tickets across the city for the infraction, 74 of them in the area where Vanveen was ticketed - namely Laurier Crescent, McBride Crescent and Alward Street to the west of 10th. As well, 91 vehicles were towed across the city - the vast majority for violating the winter parking rules.

"It's unfortunate but it's the way it has to be to ensure that the streets are kept clear of ice and snow and safe for all users," city bylaw services manager Fred Crittendon said. "And particularly when we get into residential areas it's even more important,"

He said residents have complained to the city about the effect cars and trucks parked along the streets have had following a snowfall, saying they prevent the city from properly clearing the streets, "and when they do it's jammed up so tight that people can't drive by because because of the snow accumulated on the curbs on both sides."

The city has a dispute resolution process in place to give motorists a chance to appeal their fines.

"It doesn't always go in their favour but at least they have an opportunity to say their piece and hear the decision on that," Crittendon said.

Information on snow removal and winter parking can be found on the city's website, princegeorge.ca. Go to city services and click on snow removal. Information on dispute resolution can be found by clicking on bylaw services, also under the city services tab.

Vehicles are typically towed on the third infraction, although they can be towed immediately in certain circumstances. Vanveen takes issue with that policy, noting that while the stated reason his car was towed because there were "outstanding tickets" against the vehicle, he has 30 days to pay the fines. Only once that deadline has lapsed are the tickets outstanding, he contended.

Vanveen said he continued parking on Laurier after getting the first ticket because others were still parking there and there is nowhere else to park.

He said he has talked to his employers - who he asked not be named in this story - and was told they can't do anything.

"I said 'well, have you looked at buying a lot across the street for extra parking?' And they said 'we all looked at that. We had meetings with city hall about why they took away the parking on 10th for a bike lane,'" Vanveen said.

He's now parking in a friend's driveway, five blocks away from where he works. As he made his way to work on Wednesday morning, Vanveen walked by lines of vehicles parked on both sides of Laurier Crescent.

City spokesman Michael Kellett confirmed that no tickets were issued along Laurier on that day as bylaw enforcement officers were being deployed to other matters.