Parking rules

Parking spots are becoming harder to find in Wellington.

Council sets new limitations on parking in Wellington

It is just past 7 a.m. when the transport truck carrying fresh fruit and vegetables rumbles south on Wharf Street in Wellington, bound for the Foodland grocery store. The driver pulls to a stop, then begins to back into the loading dock. A white SUV, parked along the west side of Wharf isobstructing a clear path to the dock. The driver jockeys his rig back and forth several times before landing it square with the loading ramp. He will perform an equally complex manoevre when he leaves.

It is an issue that would surely have worsened as summer neared. So council took the first step last week to ensure parking is prohibited on Wharf Street opposite the loading dock from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.. It was part of a package of parking restrictions in the neighbourhood, designed to protect neighbouring businesses and residents from the throng expected to partake in the offerings of the new Drake Devonshire Hotel.

Bill Simpson, vice-president of development for the Drake, welcomed the measures, acknowledging that signs alone wouldn’t fix the issue—enforcement of the new restrictions would be necessary.

“We’ve made great progress,” said Simpson. “I appreciate the efforts of the Works department staff and Councillor Jim Dunlop, and fully support the measures proposed.”

Well, almost.

Simpson appealed to the committee of council to consider easing the restrictions on weekends for the four parking spots along Wharf Street opposite the grocery store loading dock. He asked the committee to open this up after 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Adele Pierson told the committee that she didn’t control when deliveries were made to her store and that, while uncommon, there is a potential for deliveries after 5 p.m. on the weekend. Surprisingly, Sophiasburgh councillor Kevin Gale weighed in on the neighbourhood parking matter to propose eliminating weekend parking restrictions altogether. Or perhaps until noon. When he, at last, gathered his thoughts around a proposed motion, he landed on the 5 p.m. time suggested by the hotelier.

Works commissioner Robert McAuley urged the committee to pass the parking bylaw as it was written—noting that it would be much easier to ease restrictions later than it would be to toughen them if they proved unworkable.

With neither a material argument nor much support, Gale’s motion failed.

The original proposed bylaw passed easily.

But there was another issue to be considered.

Richard Elliott and his family own a home at the bottom of Wharf Street, overlooking Lake Ontario. It is a narrow, dead-end stub of a street that attracts visitors seeking a glimpse of the water. But once they’ve ventured to the end—there is no place to turn around. So most use Elliott’s driveway. Or lawn.

He wanted council to be aware of the issue, since they were already considering the rules governing traffic in the neighbourhood. He counted 25 cars turning around in his yard over a period of one hour last September. He knows it will get worse.

“It is a nuisance,” Elliott told council.

Elliott proposed a clear “dead end” sign, as well as a sign restricting traffic to residents only.

Hallowell councillor Gord Fox asked the homeowner how the municipality might enforce restricting the roadway to residents.

Elliott acknowledged he didn’t have an answer to the question, but it was his hope that a combination of signs and enforcement would address the problem.

Works chief McAuley cautioned the committee that, as an open roadway, restricting access to certain residents was legally problematic. He suggested a cleaner approach might be to divest the stub to the neighbouring landowners.

“I am hoping it sorts itself out,” says Elliott. “I don’t expect a magic solution. These are just steps that in the aggregate might alleviate the situation.”