The City of Brampton has implemented a new bylaw that allows ticketing of vehicles parked on front and side lawns, as well as city-owned grassy boulevards (the portion of grass in between sidewalks and roadways).
The new bylaw was inspired by a report presented to city council which showed that the city receives regular reports from residents about illegally parked vehicles on boulevards and on front and side lawns.
It’s always been illegal to park vehicles on grassy boulevards, but vehicles parked on front and side lawns wasn’t necessarily a ticketable offense right away before. The way it used to work was that the City of Brampton was required to issue a property standards order to have vehicles removed, giving offenders a minimum of 21 days to comply and park their vehicles somewhere else.
But now the rules allow bylaw officers to issue tickets immediately when cars are parked on front and side lawns.
This also allows bylaw officers to patrol and enforce during evening hours and on weekends, which is when the majority of illegal parking happens.
In 2017, the city issued 832 tickets to individuals with vehicles parked on public boulevards. They also issued 396 property standards orders for vehicles parked on front and side lawns.
The new bylaw will mean a standard $75 penalty for offenders, and the city expects to collect a little over $92,000 in fines annually.
