Got a driveway? You can't park in it if you don't have a garage in this Montreal borough

Martine Corbeil has lived in her Montreal home since 1997 and has always parked her car in the driveway out front.

But last August, she got a letter from the borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

"It said that we were not allowed to park in front of our house according to this bylaw," she said.

That will certainly complicate things for her and not just because she has to carry her groceries from a curbside spot.

She has an electric carand there's a charging station attached to her house so she can plug her vehicle in when it is parked in the very driveway she has been parking in for more than 25 years.

But the bylaw the borough is referring to was introduced long before electric cars and home charging stations became mainstream. It was drafted in 1974, when Jean Drapeau was mayor.

It says parking isn't allowed in any driveway directly in front of a home, unless thatdrivewayleads to a garage.

Corbeil and many of her neighbours have homes where garages have been converted to living spaces. It's a renovation many people have done to properties across Montreal, but even if a borough has a bylaw requiring a garage to have a driveway, it's rarely enforced.

Properties are sold and bought, with new owners not even realizing their driveway was made illegal years before when the garage was converted into a living space.

Now it appears the east end borough is cracking down. Corbeil said about a dozen people in her neighbourhood received the same letter she did.

Corbeil doesn't understand why, after ignoring the bylaw for decades, the borough is suddenly concerned.

Borough mayor Pierre Lessard-Blais was unavailable for an interviewbut in a statement he said,"the situation came to our attention after we received a complaint from a local resident."

"The regulation is still relevant today, to protect green spaces, prevent flooding and increase pedestrian security," he said.

Corbeil said none of those explanations makes any sense, and she doesn't understand why her driveway poses more of a problem than a driveway in front of a garage.

"I guess you have to have some rules some structure," she said.

"But 50 years later, if you realize that 'well, this doesn't make sense anymore' why don't you just sit down and try to find a solution that costs less? It doesn't cost anything."

Now she's expected to park in the street rather than her driveway. She callsthe situation absurd.

The borough mayor said he's looking at changing the bylaw, particularly to accommodate electric vehicles, but for now the regulation stands.