Windsor cracks down on front-yard parking

Hundreds of Windsor residents didn't get the hint when warned about illegally parking their vehicles on front lawns.

In the past few months, city bylaw officers handed out 439 tickets for the new regulations that were introduced in December.

• Front yard parking in Windsor will be ticketed in February

After making it illegal to park on front lawns, city council gave residents a two-month grace period.The city's parks department did a sweep throughout the cityin February, putting notes on people's windshields to remind them of the new rules.

But after that, bylaw officers started doling out tickets, whichcome with a $25 fine.

"The majority of the tickets are complaint based, we get calls from people,"saidBillKralovensky, supervisor of compliance and enforcement for the City of Windsor.

The ban on front-yard parking goes well beyond trying to improve neighbourhood aesthetics. The bylaw is designed to prevent some of the hazards that accompany having so much weight on a lawn.

"Some of the areas had three or four cars parked in front of a house. God forbid something happen and EMS or fire have to get in there,"Kralovenskysaid. "That's pretty unsafe."

The bylaw also protects city property. Vehicles on a lawn can damage sewers.

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