People driving on West Vancouver roads will now see higher fines if they are parked illegally.
District of West Vancouver council voted Monday night to increase fines within the municipality to help improve road safety and traffic flow.
Staff say the district has seen a rise in traffic volume over recent years, and the minimal fines are less effective in ensuring compliance and as a deterrent for offenders.
The parking fines will likely increase revenue, which goes into the bylaw and licensing services budget to provide relevant services, and better compliance with municipal bylaws.
What are some of the new fees?
People who park in no parking, no stopping, bus zones and permit parking areas will now pay $80.
Parking over the allowed time is now $60, and parking too close to a driveway is $80.
Drivers who park near a fire hydrant that restricts access and parking that obstructs traffic is $100.
Several other parking and traffic violations that may not correlate to immediate public safety concern are also included in the changes, with fines for those increasing from $45 to $60.
The new amounts are closer to the $98 fines being handed out by a third-party contractor for the Pay Parking Program in several of West Vancouver’s regional parks. Currently, visitors and residents pay an hourly or annual rate for parking in at Lighthouse, Nelson Canyon and Whytecliff parks.
Bringing the municipal parking fines closer to Pay Parking Program fines would help discourage people from parking in surrounding areas or in no-parking zones to avoid paying for parking at local parks.
Councillor shares concerns
A staff report says most fines have not been increased since 2006, which caused some concern for Coun. Linda Watt.
“Historically these fines have not been reviewed on an annual basis to account for inflation," she said. "Why have they not been increased since 2006? 18 years is a long time.”
Watt also brought up enforcement issues, stating that she looked at the numbers and thought the municipality should be writing a lot more parking tickets than what was listed for 2023.
Traffic enforcement is at times dependent on staffing levels, priority investigations and officer availability, staff said.
According to a Nov. 23 staff report, nine of the top 10 traffic fines issued by bylaw enforcement officers in 2023 were from parking violations, with the other from failing to display a valid disability permit.
Watt suggested the municipality should “dig deeper” and possibly look at a different model to increase the number of bylaw officers on staff.
“I understand we don’t have enough bylaw officers – that would surely pay for themselves given these numbers. If we were to put it out to community members that may be looking for part-time work, and then we don’t have the problem of losing people because they can’t afford to cross a bridge,” Watt said.
The staff report said higher parking fines will ideally lead to improved traffic flow, reduce congestion, increase public awareness and public transit use, and enhance compliance with municipal traffic bylaws.
The new fines will be implemented immediately.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. [email protected]
