Winter weather-based parking

This engagement has concluded. Council voted to implement the Winter Weather-Based Winter Parking Bylaw on Oct. 1, 2024.

• Engagement summary and survey results

  About this project

  The City of Kingston uses overnight on-street parking restrictions to respond quickly to winter weather. Plows are large vehicles, and it is safer, easier and more efficient to clear streets without vehicles parked on them.

  In March 2022, City Council approved a pilot project that would see the City implement a winter weather-based parking bylaw. This bylaw introduced a weather-based approach to parking on Kingston’s streets during the winter:

  • During the months of December and March, overnight on-street parking is permitted, so long as a parking ban is not called in advance of winter weather.

  • During the months of January and February, a blanket ban is in effect and overnight on-street parking is not permitted.

  How we engaged

  Following two full winters of the pilot project, City staff gathered feedback from the public to inform recommendations for the future of overnight winter weather-based parking regulations in Kinston.

  A survey was hosted on Get Involved Kingston from June 24 to July 12. The community was provided opportunities to engage online, by phone or by email. The Get Involved Kingston project page also asked for ideas to manage winter parking. Ideas were also received by phone or email. 

  Engagement opportunities were communicated through social media, a news release and the Get Involved Kingston email newsletter. The survey was also promoted by external partners to their audiences. Social media posts had approximately 31,700 impressions and the newsletters were distributed to approximately 18,000 subscribers.

  Who we heard from

  Get Involved Kingston statistics:

  • 2,600 total page visits

  • 708 participants who engaged with us

  • 708 completed surveys

  • 15 ideas contributed

  Respondents represent a wide range of areas across Kingston and beyond. They are broken down into the following:

  
  

  District name	Number of respondents
  District 1: Countryside	13
  District 2: Loyalist-Cataraqui	76
  District 3: Collins-Bayridge	46
  District 4: Lakeside	49
  District 5: Portsmouth	71
  District 6: Trillium	73
  District 7: Kingscourt-Rideau	46
  District 8: Meadowbrook-Strathcona	31
  District 9: Williamsville	48
  District 10: Sydenham	51
  District 11: King’s Town	75
  District 12: Pittsburgh	106

  Of the 708 surveys submitted, 685 participants lived within Kingston, and 23 participants were from outside of Kingston.

  Next steps

  Engagement results will inform staff’s recommendation to Council regarding the future of overnight winter weather-based parking regulations in Kingston.

  What we heard  

  The following are the results of the survey questions. Feedback that did not follow the City of Kingston’s Guidelines for Participation were omitted. Staff have also identified emerging themes in the feedback, the highlights and summaries provided below.

  Q1: Are you aware of the current winter weather-based parking ban in Kingston?

  
  

  
  

  Of the respondents, 686 (96.8 per cent) were aware of the parking ban pilot project. 

  Q2: What kind of impact has the winter weather-based parking ban had on your household since the pilot began in March 2022? 

  

  Of the respondents:

  • 429 (60.6 per cent) felt the parking ban had a positive impact on their household

  • 133 (18.8 per cent) felt the parking ban had a negative impact on their household

  • 146 (20.6 per cent) were unsure or could not recall the impact it had 

  Q2a: If the restrictions have impacted you negatively, please explain how it has affected you. (Note: The survey question employed Skip Logic, which meant only respondents who selected “Negative” in the previous question were asked to elaborate on the negative impact the parking restrictions had.)

  There were 129 responses to this question. Verbatim answers are available on the Get Involved Kingston project page. Responses provided fall into the following themes:

  • Compromised plowing operations concerns

  • Vehicles parked on the street reduce the effectiveness of snow removal and lead to snow banks, as plows need to swerve to move around illegally parked vehicles

  • People continue to park their vehicles on roads, impacting snow removal and leading to unsafe walking and driving conditions

  • Roads are slower to get plowed because of so many parked vehicles

  • The City should consider a 24-hour parking ban after a snowfall, or bans only in neighbourhoods that will be cleared

  • Plows don’t always come through streets overnight

  • If some streets are cleared earlier than others, they should be allowed to resume street parking

  • Enforcement concerns

  • People take their chances and park vehicles on the street regardless of bans, or would rather pay the fine than find alternate parking

  • Current ticketing isn’t enough of a deterrent

  • There is no enforcement at all and as a result, people ignore the ban

  • There don’t seem to be enough Bylaw officers to properly enforce parking and it emboldens a lack of respect for the laws

  • Vehicles shouldn’t be allowed to park on any City streets from December to March due to people not following restrictions. This would also mean people don’t need to check for restrictions before parking

  • Some people don’t understand the system or don’t check for restrictions

  • Plow operators should be able to give tickets

  • People have received tickets or been towed when there was no snowfall

  • Insufficient parking options

  • Many houses and apartments don’t have off-street parking, or don’t have enough parking to accommodate all occupants or visitors

  • Nowhere safe to park off-street

  • Night-shift workers are impacted

  • The City should consider a weather-based system from December to March

  • The City should consider alternating side of the streets for parking. It is irresponsible for the City to implement restrictions and not provide the community with alternatives

  • Safety concerns

  • Vehicles left on the road can create problems for emergency vehicles

  • Snow accumulation leads to reduced sightlines

  • With vehicles on the road and snowbanks, it is difficult to see and drive down roads safely

  • Illegally parked cars and snow accumulation narrow roadways and make it difficult to drive in one lane

  Q3: Over the past two winters, did a vehicle parked on the road overnight prevent a snow plow from plowing a street and result in an impact on your neighbourhood?

  

  Of the respondents:

  • 356 (50.2 per cent) said No

  • 251 (35.4 per cent) said Yes

  • 102 (14.4 per cent) said Unsure/Couldn’t Recall

  Q3a: If a vehicle parked on the road overnight did prevent a plow from getting through, during which time periods did you experience an impact? Select all that apply. (Note: The survey question employed Skip Logic, which meant only respondents who selected “Yes” in the previous question were asked to elaborate on when a plow was prevented from completing its operations.)

  

  Q4: Over the past two winters, do you remember learning about the weather-based parking ban in any of the following ways? Select all that apply.

  

  Of the respondents:

  • 319 learn about parking bans through social media

  • 263 learn about parking bans on the City’s website

  • 253 learn about parking bans on the news

  Q5: How many vehicles does your household have?

  The breakdown of respondents is as follows:

  
  

  Number of vehicles	Respondents
  0	11
  1	254
  2	313
  3	84
  4	21
  5	10
  6	2

  Q6: Do you have access to off-street parking?

  

  Of the respondents, 631 (89.1 per cent) have access to off-street parking, and 77 (10.9 per cent) do not have access to off-street parking.

  Q7: Where do you usually park your vehicles?

  

  Of the respondents:

  • 484 (68.8 per cent) park their vehicles in their own driveways

  • 98 (13.9 per cent) park their vehicles in a garage

  • 91 (12.9 per cent) park their vehicles on the street.

  Q7a: If on-street parking is not available due to the weather-based parking ban, what options do you explore for parking? (Note: The survey question employed Skip Logic, which meant only respondents who selected “On-street” in the previous question were asked where they park their vehicle during a parking ban.)

  

  Of the respondents:

  • 41 park in their own residence’s driveway or parking lot

  • 28 take their chances and park on the road

  • 21 use another residence space (rental).

  Q8: Are you in favour of continuing a weather-based overnight parking ban during December and March of each year? 

  

  Of the respondents, 562 (79.2 per cent) are in favour of continuing a weather-based overnight parking ban during December and March, 116 (16.3 per cent) are not in favour, and 32 (4.5 per cent) are undecided.

  Ideas responses

  The following are comments submitted by registered Get Involved Kingston participants through the Ideas tool. Feedback that did not follow the City of Kingston’s Guidelines for Participation were omitted.

  What solutions or alternatives would you suggest for managing parking in Kingston during winter weather?

  There were 15 responses to this question. Responses provided fall into the following themes:

  • Alternate parking restrictions

  • Have a weather-based winter parking ban throughout the entire winter (December to March)

  • Alternate parking on one side of the street

  • Have a consistent, defined parking ban to avoid confusion

  • Increased enforcement

  • Improved/additional communication

  • Promoting alternatives to driving

• Survey - verbatim responses

  The below are verbatim responses to Question 2A in the winter weather-based parking engagement survey. Note that some responses may appear in multiple sections if they raise more than one concern.

  Question: If the restrictions have impacted you negatively, please explain how it has affected you.

  Compromised plowing operations concerns

  1. two cars in my neighbourhood parked on the street all winter often leaving the cars unmoved for multiple days, this impacted snow removal on both roads and streets ([REDACTED]) making for unsafe walking and driving conditions

  1. People continue to park in the street when advised not to. The snow ploughs then have to go around the vehicles leaving snow in the streets. People do not listen.

  1. Being ticketed on nights that the roads are cleared and the banks have been removed / have completely melted away. I am a snow plow operator myself, and I feel bylaw should be observing and using common sense when issuing tickets. If the roads/ areas are clear, tickets shouldn’t be issued. I wouldn’t have / be parking on the road way if they weren’t clear. Over 30 tickets this year. No parking spot at private residence. Park blocks away in private lot when roads require plowing or clearing, when they do not I park, and should be able to park on the road. The blank ban on parking doesn’t work. Some streets are power and cleared much before others, and these streets should be able to resume back to street parking.

  1. There are cars parked on [REDACTED] all winter in all weather that are NEVER moved or parked off the street regardless of the weather, regardless of the parking ban or bylaw. No one from the city ever follows through from what the snow plow driver could very well report in a quick call to bylaw. The flagrant disrespect for the bylaw is quite obvious and needs to be addressed of the bylaw becomes useless.

  1. Cars park on street with frozen snow banks narrows the road way substantially putting more risk of accidents many roads in my area have homes with secondary units and people park on street to avoid juggling cars in drive ways or park cars on small city boulevard driveway sections that barely fit a car. Causing side walk and snow plows risk of damaging vehicle and snow plow.

  1. I live beside [REDACTED] but they have too many employees with cars for the size of the home. They end up parking in front of my house. After it snows, the snow plough can’t get near the curb. Then I have about 10-20 extra cubic meters of snow to shift the next morning to get my car out. There are people/organizations who decide they would just rather pay the fine and take the risk of a ticket or tow than do the right thing. The new relaxed trial scheme has allowed them to be even more cavalier with the road in front of my house (and indirectly my sore back from shovelling snow).

  1. Cars on street reduce effectiveness of snow removal in small accumulations leaving small banks.

  1. More streets not plowed well enough, because of cars parked on street,due to poor enforcement ,when there is a storm.

  1. Hard to drive down a street when cars are not on driveways and snow banks narrow the road ways. Driveways and garages are meant to vehicles. Roads are meant for driving on, not parking

  1. Students on our street are less inclined to make arrangements for overnight parking and to simply stay on the street and take their chances on ticketing. If there is snow, the plows must go around them, creating difficult snow piles for others.

  1. To be clear, this was the only way to get a free write box, I am in favor of extending the parking ban to run from December through March. It has been nothing but a problem allowing on-street parking during the winter. I live in a medium/high density neighborhood and the street is so busy, the plow can NEVER actually move snow on our street. Please go back to what every other municipality does and ban on-street parking overnight ALL winter!!!

  1. The city should consider a 24hr parking ban after a snowfall - like most major cities. Or, consider a parking ban in certain neighborhoods ONLY if plows are scheduled to clear the roads / snowbanks. Having a blanket parking ban for an entire month is very frustrating for shift workers at KGH. It makes it difficult to park downtown… and seems very ridiculous when there is no snow on the ground. Please consider a 24-48 hr parking ban for snow removal AFTER a major snowfall.

  1. People do not abide by restrictions and park on street when it snows blocking street from being plowed properly. Makes it unsafe for my family.

  1. parked cars on the road when snow clearing is supposed to happen

  1. my neighbours park on the road during Dec and March and do not move for the plows. I live in a culdasac and our road does not get plowed properly because the plow can not get around

  1. Cars parked on the side of the street instead of banned has made it harder for me to clear snow around the entrance of my driveway, resulting in more snow getting dumped in my drive after I have cleared it. Or the plow can't get in close and I have a few feet of extra snow at the end. My neighbours also park hanging out of their driveway and blocking the sidewalk so my sidewalk never gets cleared by the plow and gets dumped in my driveway when they have to go around. I'm not against the pilot, I just think there needs to be more enforcement by the city and not neighbours tattling on each other

  1. The NON enforcement of the ban, cars not moved off the street causing the snowplow to go around ,then on the clean up extra snow being pushed into the drive ways, being disabled this causes twice the work to get me out in case of f a medical problem

  1. Even in December and March when it snows and we have to shovel it is difficult at times because of cars parked on the street. People also do t always realize the ban has been called and park on the street anyways

  1. When it snows cars are supposed to be off the streets. This never happens. Cars stay on the streets overnight, they are not towed, they are not ticketed. The snow plows come by and are unable to clear the streets properly and it leaves suburban streets chaotic with snow everywhere, cars on the road buried in snow. It actually makes it quite dangerous as well.

  1. People park absolutely ridiculously on our cul-de-sac, and they continue to do so all winter long. It's a pain how they park to begin with, but when the snow plows come or the street sweepers, big piles are in the middle of the road or in front of people's driveways because of people parking on the road.

  1. It has been my experience that cars violating the parking ban are ticketed and not towed. I live on a cul de sac and cars parked in front of my house cause the snowplows to (obviously) steer around them. This means a fair bit of extra shovelling at the end of my driveway. Also, some cars park in the middle of the cul-de-sac which makes it difficult for snowplow operators to do as good a job of clearing the roads as possible.

  1. Vehicle parked on street overnight preventing proper plowing on the curves of the street thereby making for dangerous driving

  1. Cars owned by students don’t move off the streets at all over the winter, plows can’t do required job.

  1. Our roads barely get cleared enough as it is, when cars are left parked on the streets it only makes it more difficult for clearing and space left to drive.

  1. Having a wishy washy parking ban only if there is a heavy snowfall has not been effective. A parking ban on streets needs to be 100% in effect for all vehicles for snow removal which takes place during the night or early in the morning. There were mounds of snow left around cars these last two winters as naturally the snow plough drivers could not clear the snow effectively and have to keep a distance from parked vehicles.

  1. Snowplow leaves excess snow across our driveway as they avoid parked car - often parked illegally

  1. "When cars are parked on the street and previous snow removal hasn't been done then traffic is down to 1 lane in the middle . Especially on streets with bus routes and multiple dwelling homes with many cars

  1. Parked cars during the day time have impacted plow operations, leaving many ridges on the street. During winter/snow months people should park in their driveways to allow 24/7 access for plows to do their job.

  1. If cars are parked on the street the snow plows go around them and the snow is not removed

  1. Roads are slower to get plowed in the winter because there are so many cars parked on the streets. Kingston is an older city and has narrower streets. I have been on buses that have had to detour from their routes causing riders to walk thru the snow.

  1. Vehicle parked overnight prevented snow plow from plowing area of street.

  1. Streets not plowed well

  1. The end of my driveway and sidewalk are rarely plowed due to excess parking on street and lawns encroaching on street and sidewalk access because there are too many vehicles per property and without driveways.

  1. The restrictions are poorly followed. people are creatures of habit and do not change habits easily. people who park on streets do not take their cars off the street when they are supposed to. As a result, when it snows, city plows are not able to plow street properly leaving large amounts of snow on the street, making it difficult to drive on the street. this happened numerous times last two winters. In other words the ban is not working and cars should not be able to park on any city streets December, January February and March each year

  1. car owners are not aware of the policy. Consequently regardless of the weather they park overnight on the streets. This leads to a very poor plowing job making it difficult to navigate the city streets following day(s).

  1. Cars in the neighborhood do not move them when a storm warning is in place. If it snows the snow plow has to go around the cars. The street is full of snow at times.

  1. With snowbanks and vehicles on the street 24/7 it's next to impossible to have 2 lanes on a street. Fire trucks and ambulances have not been able to get down my street in the daytime due to parking then, and it's even worse at night with poor visibility. The overnight parking allowed means people have been parked under my window in trucks, all night long. People are sleeping in their vehicles all night and my house is beset by diesel and gas fumes. I can't plow my driveway because there's cars on the street. I can't shovel my walkway because there's a car at the end of it.

  1. Street not plowed or not properly plowed due to people not adhering to the existing by-law

  1. While the ban is in effect, it is not enforced...people still leave their cars on the street and are not towed...the plow goes around them leaving a larger plow pile in front of my driveway. ENFORCE the parking ban please! I am in favour of a total parking ban overnight from Dec through March as before.

  1. The owners of the cars do not abide by the “moving if inclement weather is coming” snow plows have to go around the cars, then leaves extra snow in front of our house to shovel, as the roads are not plowed properly. It would be helpful if our street was only parking on 1 side (preferably not the sidewalk side) and if the plow drivers were able to give parking tickets. One year, the plow couldn’t get by, sat and honked the horn and still no one moved, if they were given the ability to write tickets would save time money and maybe people would learn. Calling bylaw is not conducive to anyone’s work day when you are working long hours trying to get the streets cleaned, ask any of the drivers, it’s not “with the call” but giving tickets would give them power to make sure the roads were cleared and help them do their job.

  1. I have hired someone to clear my driveway in winter as I am a senior and on street parking interferes

  1. We live on [REDACTED] in the midst of a number of multi-unit apartment buildings with underground parking. Instead of paying for parking (underground and surface), the tenants for these buildings parks on the street, regardless of the parking restrictions, all year round, day and night. It is cheaper for them to pay for tickets that they get infrequently than it is to pay their landlord for parking. Parking on [REDACTED] during the months of December to March interfered with snow clearing. Question 5 asks when this happened which is stretching my memory and encouraging me to guess. All I can say is that although plows were not prevented from getting through they were regularly prevented from plowing [REDACTED] properly. Question 10 asks if I am in favour of continuing with the current restrictions - I would have to say "No" unless all cars parked on the street during the banned period are ticketed and those with frequent violations are towed. Why is this the only question for comments? Very frustrating.

  1. Snow accumulation on the curbs already makes it difficult to see past when backing out of my driveway. Then I have to contend with a car parked next to the snowbank, making it extra hard. Also, the street becomes one-way traffic because the snow banks push out into the road and then cars park on both sides of the street. That doesn’t leave enough room for two-way traffic on the street.

  1. There are ALWAYS people who don't move, leaving entire streets to suffer the consequences when a plow has to drive around them. (a good 20-30ft arc, since there's no turning on a dime in those beasts).

  1. Street was not plowed properly because people had parked overnight and ignored the weather forecast calling for snow

  1. Road not properly plowed because car sat on street for days even with tickets on the windshield. School buses go up and down our street and there’s a slight hill that makes things slippery and hard to go up. Hard to get around the cars when it’s parked and snow piled up around it making the street even more narrow

  1. People do not pay attention to weather reports and warnings on days street parking is not allowed and leave cars on streets overnight. Then roads are not plowed properly. Blanket ban is best for all 4 months. Easy to educate and follow. This way checking every day if overnight parking is allowed in December and March is not required...many will not pay attention and leave vehicles on road when they should not.

  1. People never know when they can and can not park on street. Streets do not get plowed well because of this. For disabled people this causes more issues if they get stuck

  1. Small street big snow banks.make street very narrow

  1. My street has turned into a parking lot and typically, even when there is a storm, there are vehicles on the street and the city plow goes around them and I am left with a mess and unplowed.

  1. My apartment building does not have sufficient parking for all tenants. Street parking is essential as I need my car for work. A very important note, even when cars are cleared from the street, plows do not attempt to plow where cars would have been parked. They dont go near the side of the road leaving it filled with snow.

  I think something similar to Ottawa where the ban is only if snow is expected and the ban is announced over typical outreach methods.

  1. There is no enforcement. Whether during the total ban (January/February) or the discretionary ban (December/March), there is no consequence to the people that ignore the ban. Under our experience the are cars are no ticketed or towed. All that happens is that the plow goes around them creating a mess on the road.

  1. I live in a downtown area where not all homes have access to parking, and the winter ban has negatively impacted my ability to park. I am happy to pay for parking - whether private or on street - but private parking is difficult to find in my neighbourhood. Other cities are able to coordinate winter parking restrictions so that different streets are able to be plowed on different days following a snow event. Montreal comes to mind. Things work. Plowing happens on schedule, and people manage well with their cars.

  1. Neighbours dont move gheir car off the road so the plows go around the car leaving a large win-row in front of our drive

  1. We live on [REDACTED] which is only accessible via [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]. Putting a Ban on street parking is moot if you are NOT going to enforce those Municipal Laws. The number of cars parked on [REDACTED] during snow days whereby the snowplow had to go around those vehicles was unacceptable. There are signs posted that forbid parking, even in the warmer months there are cars parked on both sides of the street forcing people to weave as they drive down the street. The west side of [REDACTED] is especially bad with people parking on the southern inside corner essentially blocking a drivers view around the corner where the sidewalk crossing is. There is a playground on the south side 1/2 way around [REDACTED] so someday I expect to hear about a child injured or worse!

  1. During December and March vehicles can park on the street, however some continue the practice of parking in “No Parking” zones, which can make it very difficult to get by if the snow banks are not cleared.

  1. People started parking on the street overnight, making it crowded and difficult to plow the sidewalk, etc. Also with the amount of some snowpiles on the landscaped areas / a small portion of the road near the curb, with vehicles parking on both sides of the street, it creates difficulty in driving with only one lane available rather than two lanes traffic.

  1. Parking in front of our home and the plows can’t clean the snow as well. When they try to remove the snow from where the car has parked, most of the snow goes to the end of our driveway and we have to reshovell

  1. There are too many cars parking overnight on narrow streets like [REDACTED]. There are many student cars parking on the roads overnight. Apartment buildings don't have enough spots for all the tenants so they just park on the street. The plows go around these cars and the street becomes narrower and narrower as the winter progresses.

  1. I live on a street that is being OVERTAKEN BY STUDENT RENTALS. The house next to me has 6 cars associated with it. They must park on the street so even in the summer it is sometimes difficult to get out of my driveway. There is only one car associated with my house. So you can imagine what it is like in the winter. They often parked on the street which meant the plow would have to move outward when passing my drive. Consequently an even a larger dump of snow was left in front of my drive. Did I mention I am old and can not clear my drive. So I see this new policy as even worse than the old. PS, snow falls outside of your little time line that allows parking on the street.

  1. Live on [REDACTED] with a blvd Student housing and not enough parking for the student cars to park Causing issues for the plows to complete the work and have access to the street to get plowed properly. Caller is against this ban

  Enforcement concerns

  1. cars park on St. regardless of weather

  1. People tend to park even when there is a snowstorm coming in December and March. Feel it is best to go back to total ban so no confusion. Plus weather forecast may be borderline on whether it will snow.

  1. Unfortunately, it aggravates an already existing issue in which a neighbour parks four vehicles on the road. As there are also a number of apartments and in the near vicinity who also park on my small side street as well it escalates the issue and there are vehicles parked close to the driveway and across from the driveway making it awkward, possibly dangerous when pulling out in icy conditions.

  1. Others are not following rules and our street becomes chaotic ,single lane in spots ,with city and emergency vehicles having difficulty maneuvering

  1. Because my neighbours do not follow the ban, I contact the city and nothing is ever done about it. It’s very frustrating.

  1. Cars are stilled parked on the streets because the bylaw is not enforced.

  1. Vehicles are parked overnight even though restrictions are in place. Current ticketing doesn’t seem to make a difference

  1. There does not seem to be enough ByLaw officers to properly enforce parking curbside in the middle of summer let alone winter. In areas more remote from the city centre all parking curbside is abused. The main cause is lack of enforcement due to not enough ByLaw officials which emboldens a lack of respect for laws.

  1. Prefer the old system

  1. Some people don't understand or don't listen to the weather updates.

  1. Ban starts Jan 1 at midnight which means one can't drive to a new year's eve celebration and leave your car overnight.

  1. Unable to park even when there is no snow expected.

  1. More people parking on the road more often jamming the road way through our neighborhood

  1. There are only a handful of days that the ploughs actually come overnight. Even during the snowiest months. Losing parking in the middle of winter is very detrimental and is not always a necessary step. Giving out parking tickets /towing when no snow is forecast is infuriating and useless. The ban should be weather based throughout the winter and not just based on the month

  1. Have received tickets. Parking overnight.

  1. My wife is disabled and would benefit from extended winter parking. Because the weather is becoming milder, I feel strongly that weather-based parking should be in effect throughout the winter. In addition, the snow plowing policy is ludicrous: the plows are out scraping the hell out of bare streets when only a skiff of snow has fallen. Surely the city can find a better, less wasteful use for its workers! As it is, the plow operators are cheating the city. Note: the city's surveys are profoundly dishonest in that they only provide the answers that the city wants.

  1. Visiting family for Christmas does not know if on street parking is OK. Need serious communication to let people know when banned. Visitors do not have access to e-mail or ways of dereming on road parking ban.

  1. Car ticketed for overnight. I would recommend weather based overnight parking ban throughout the winter. Not just for December and March.

  1. Street parking is narrow enough on our street. It is nice to have the winter ban from Dec 1 to Mar.

  1. Cars continued to park on a bend in the road whatever the month. At times we wondered if emergency vehicles could get through.

  1. More cars left on the road overnight than before the change in ban making the winter streets harder to navigate.

  1. I live on [REDACTED] in Kingston and quite a few of the houses are rented by rooms so most places have at least 3 or 4 cars at a time. Some driveways can’t accommodate that many vehicles so people park on the street no matter if there is a ban or not. I don’t know if the City puts out a notice by twitter, email, TV, Radio or other social media forums but it just doesn’t matter to some individuals. My street is not frequented by By-Law Officers, only if I call so when we do get a huge snowfall the ploughs just go around the cars which makes it messy on our small street. The proughmen/women should give tickets.

  1. Too many cars parked on the road with snow banks from previous storms making the roadway too narrow for safety

  1. Very limited, but more people parking on the street in the winter has crowded the streets in the residential areas of my neighborhood.

  1. People do not know that it is NOT allowed because it is weather based. It should be the same as before. Blanket no parking during winter period

  1. In some areas of my neighbourhood, people use their garages and driveways for other than parking their vehicles. Consequently, they park from1 and up to 3 cars on the street. This makes driving on those street hazardous in the summer months and worse in December and March. This parking easement in December and March discourages use of the garages and driveways to park vehicles safely.

  1. I got a parking ticket in front of my house in a day that the weather was good, no snow, no ice

  1. Forget one night to pull vehicle in driveway and even with no snowfall I get a ticket.

  1. We have a new resident who has called Bylaw to ticket two vehicles while there was construction going on in the house. These cars were not in the way at all during the day when there was no snow to clean. The [REDACTED] driver did the same thing when we were cleaning snow so that vehicles can move around.

  Parking availability concerns

  1. I live in a rental with no parking options. I got a parking ticket.

  1. No street parking for visiting guests, and no alternatives provided or even recommended by the city. The city should do what most other cities in Ontario do, and have parking on one side of the street for the first half of the month, and switch to the other side of the street for the last half. Leaving community members without anywhere to park (most people don’t have driveways) and not providing them with alternatives is a misuse of responsibility.

  1. There are houses now with more vehicles than parking spots and so they are always cluttering our narrow street.

  1. Losing street parking even when it’s not snowing. Having to get a ticket for parking in your yard when you can’t park on the road

  1. Not only does it not help plowing my roads, my car got towed for no seeable reason. They towed my car, broke the front bumper in the process, and the road was no more plowed than it was when I went to bed. My housemate has to leave at 4am for work so I can't park in front of him which is never an issue aside from during the winter which is wild because our road doesn't get plowed until 3 days after a snowstorm. Put something out saying which roads you plan on towing/removing snowbanks every day and it would make everything easier on everyone.

  1. No one has off street parking. So we now have to scramble to find parking and walk blocks instead of being able to park right outside the house. There is ZERO reason to have a blanket restriction. If there is weather, cars can move. The focus needs to be on properly plowing roads, turning lanes and sidewalks

  1. Too many vehicles for our driveway, have to secure overnight parking spot, also have to move cars around a lot or walk through poor weather to get home from parking.

  1. Over the holidays seasons parking is impossible when visitors come over.

  1. Inability to park anywhere safely

  1. I am a night health care worker and not parking on street has had a financial impact on me.

  1. I have a single wide driveway at my home and three cars for my household. Based on the various work schedules of members of the household on street parking is essential to being able to move cars and leave/access the driveway. The blanket ban for January and February greatly increases household stress for car parking even when there are no snow clearing operations underway.

  1. It effects my parking situation

  1. not nearly enough parking

  1. For the most part the parking ban doesn't impact us because we have a bigger driveway and I do like that it eliminates the maze of cars on some streets who have single lane driveways. However, when the blanket ban came into effect on Jan 1 this year there was no snow. We had friends staying over for the weekend and we had too many cars for our driveway so our only option was for someone to park on the street and risk the chance of getting a ticket. A suggestion might be to designate areas in a neighbourhood where people can park overnight. For year round, I think bylaw should allow people to widen their driveways so that they are not parked all over the streets making it difficult to get around. Most households have multiple cars these days. The street sweepers in the spring can never properly do their job either. We just need parking options to get cars off the streets.

  1. Visitors have no options to park overnight downtown.

  1. I have had to figure out on my own where I can park my car legally. I have had to wake up early, juggle and shift my schedule to move my vehicle form a municipal lot to the street, and have had to walk in inclement weather from parking my car in a municipal lot to my home. It was stressful and inconvenient. I have received parking tickets when I was unable to move my car in time.

  1. Even though the cost of the street parking permit is the same I now have to move my car twice a day no matter what for two months straight. I have no other options since my apartment has no parking and I need my car to get around so I have a daily hassle added to my life in an already busy time of yeah often completely unnecessarily.

  1. I live in a high density area. The parking lot for my building is full, no spots available. For two entire months I have to park my car at a friend’s house and get them to pick me up in the morning just to get my car. You need to either alternate roads or sides, have the ban be only on in case of snow like in December, or provide a place to park for people like me. I am in favour of the modified ban because it keeps the streets clear of snow and ice, but I’m not comfortable being without access to my car overnight for two months.

  1. We don’t have over night guests visiting us in January or February cause our driveway is only big enough for our cars

  1. We own a rental property (duplex) with only one parking spot. It works fine for our tenants most of the year, but in the winter months it's a source of difficulty, especially when having overnight out-of-town guests visiting.

  1. Specifically on this past new years eve, there was no snow, no chance of snow, no forecasted snow. Many people parked on the streets for new years celebrations. And they ALL got ticketed a fine. I find that incredibly disgusting that bylaw officers went out on new years eve specifically to fine as many people as they could, knowing fullwell there was no snow and therefore no need for it. And because this survey does not have an additional comments box; I'd say more than 80% of my neighborhood has more than 1 vehicle in the household, and we all have single car driveways. Which seems like an epic fail on a city planning level.

  1. Putting the trailer and 2 cars in the small driveway every night the ban is in effect is foolish because much of the time there is neither fresh snow overnight or uncleared snow on the road.

  1. We live downtown with two families in a single household. We only have two parking spots, but three cars. We have been unable to find paid overnight parking nearby for the winter, which means that we are constantly scrambling to find somewhere to leave the third car overnight. This is extraordinarily frustrating to have a blanket ban in January and February when the number of winter storms has only been decreasing. Why can’t the city just apply the December/March policy for the whole winter???

  1. We live on the side of a street where the driveway has a sidewalk passing through. We have more than two cars. We need to park a car on the street if we cannot croach into the sidewalk. So the winter parking is difficult. We have to park one car sideways across the driveway. There is no room for company to park if family visit overnight. We could park 4 cars on the driveway but we would cross the sidewalk line a bit.

  1. Absolutely no snow in sight and my guests and I could not find overnight parking

  1. Street parking near the [REDACTED] is impossible. Provide parking where it is needed if the city expects to have tourists and happy residents.

  1. We live downtown and have elderly parents and when family comes to help us out there is not enough parking which is fine when there is snow but when no snow it makes it seem silly to not be able to park on the street.

  1. We live in a home with a small driveway and 5 adults. Begging neighbors to park in their driveway was difficult and demeaning.

  1. We have 6 cars - family of 6 so we would benefit parking in the streets during winter times to avoid playing Tetris with our cars or parking in the grass. We piles beneficiary to keep year long weather based parking on the streets.

  1. Working at the hospital, where parking is already limited, the inability to park where needed for shift workers has significant detrimental impact on their ability to attend to their duties. There needs to be thought put into improving parking conditions for shift workers overnight for this ban to be considerate of their needs.

  1. With the exception of last year....the number of months was too long...too many weeks at the beginning and end of the restriction there was NO snow. Over night guests had to park at our library or strip mall

  1. I work night shifts and need to park my car on the streets sometimes but in the winter, I have to park in the parking lot that's a 15 minute walk away from workplace. the walk is not so fun after a 12 hour shift.

  1. Unnecessary fees, we do not have enough parking space for our student household.

  1. limited parking

  Safety concerns

  1. To many vehicles left on the streets unnecessarily.

  1. people do not remove their cars when a storm is coming.

  1. Some people don't understand or don't listen to the weather updates.

  1. More people parking on the road more often jamming the road way through our neighborhood

  1. Cars continued to park on a bend in the road whatever the month. At times we wondered if emergency vehicles could get through.

  1. More cars left on the road overnight than before the change in ban making the winter streets harder to navigate.

  1. people do not remove their cars when a storm is coming.

  1. Too many cars parked on the road with snow banks from previous storms making the roadway too narrow for safety

  1. Very limited, but more people parking on the street in the winter has crowded the streets in the residential areas of my neighborhood.

  1. With snowbanks on the sides of the roads and cars parked in the streets, it is difficult to drive down my street safely.

  1. Residential streets that were never designed or intended to be used for overnight parking pose a greater challenge during icy conditions and/or shorter daylight hours.

• Ideas - verbatim responses

  The below are verbatim responses to the Ideas tool as part of the winter weather-based parking engagement.

  What solutions or alternatives would you suggest for managing parking in Kingston during winter weather?

  Alternate parking restrictions

  1. Have a weather based parking ban through entire winter - our weather is so variable in Kingston, there is times that it feels unnecessary. To have a ban in place for the entirety of Jan and Feb. I think the pilot was overall successful enough that people would cooperate whenever a ban is in place throughout the winter and they would expect it could become more frequent in Jan and Feb depending on the weather

  1. Overnight parking ban should be weather based the entire winter. Winters are getting increasingly mild, there were many times this Jan / Feb that the overnight parking ban felt completely unnecessary because there was no snow. I am a renter with only one parking space, so when a friend from out of town came to visit we had to drive around from municipal lot to crowded municipal lot, looking for a place that would allow overnight parking. Very inconvenient. The principal behind having a weather-based ban for December and March should apply for all of winter. If it works for December and March, why not January and February also?

  1. Do not go to ban for any extended period.

  1. Weather based Parking. Parking should be allowed on the street when the roads are bare, and no signs of major winter snow fall is in the forecast. Those that live in residential neighbourhoods, that rely on street parking, would benefit from this change. Just look at the past winter, with that lack of snow, residents could have easily parked their vehicles on the street and moved them back when a major snowfall is forecasted.

  1. The survey is a good start but does not provide room for other options or comments. Please enforce only weather- based ban Dec-March. We have some cars park in driveway and some on street. Survey only permits one choice. Survey needs more detail to get true feedback.

  1. Winter Weather-dependent parking should be implemented all winter long.

  1. Definitive not ambiguous. I feel the current pilot project is ambiguous and subjective and leads to confusion and the need to monitor updates of both weather and its impact on parking . Let us keep it consistent with other definitive parking limits/times in the city to avoid confusion for both residents and visitors.

  1. Have parking on one side of street,on certain days …on snow days cars must be moved off streets. No parking Tuesday,Wednesday,Friday,Sunday

  1. The City should adopt a system like Toronto’s, parking on alternate sides of street for first half vs. last half of the month year round. This would allow proper snow clearing and street cleaning year round. At present, the City does a lousy job at both. Snow plows come at all times of the day, not just at night, on most streets so winter snow removal is spotty at best. Street cleaning the rest of the year always misses many sections due to parked cars.

  1. Just copy how it's done in Ottawa. Signs in snowbanks of streets to be cleared that night. On street parking all winter.

  1. Weather-Based Parking - One Side of Street Only, Alternates. When the weather conditions allow, vehicles must park on one side of the street only. Parking on both sides of the street creating congestion even for regular vehicular traffic through the residential complex, let alone when snow plow needs to go through. The side where vehicles to be parked on should be alternated (first half of the month on one side, and second half of the month on the other side OR odd date on the odd house number side and even date on the even house number side). No double sides parking should ever be allowed on any day in the residential complex.

  Increased enforcement

  1. Need to have more cars ticketed when they are informed there is no parking.

  Improved/additional communication

  1. Text Notifications & Full-Time Weather Dependent Parking Plan. I LOVE the weather dependent parking system and think it should be implemented year round (obviously mainly in the winter, but I'm sure there are summer occasions where it could apply too). My only hesitation with this system is that it may be hard for the broad public to know when they're allowed/not allowed to park on the street. I'd love to see a text system where you receive a text in the evening (5/6pm) when the ban will be applicable that night so it's easier to stay up to date.

  1. Did know of notification of parking ban through email. Perhaps notification can be made similar to this emailed survey?

  Promoting alternatives to driving

  1. Alternatives to driving. Consider making public transit more attractive to discourage people from driving downtown, which is most affected by parking issues. This means providing bus routes that reach the far edges of the city and come by frequently. The current routes either don't go far enough into the west end or don't come around frequently enough. What about encouraging Kingstonians to use public transit on Friday nights and weekends, by introducing routes that go far into the west end and come by frequently? There is an assumption that if you have a car you should drive everywhere you go. The city should make public transit attractive to people who have the option to drive, to reduce traffic downtown and encourage greener transit options. While it can be hard to justify investing in transit when ridership is low, making public transit more accessible and attractive can increase interest in public transit.