Solution in works for cul-de-sac parking

A solution for residents eager to legally angle park in one of Calgary’s 2,500 cul-de-sacs is one step closer to reality following recent city crackdowns on angle parking in the dead-end streets.

On Tuesday, council approved a notice of motion submitted by councillors Shane Keating, Peter Demong and Richard Pootmans asking administration to develop a process allowing residents to petition the city for angle parking on their cul-de-sacs.

While provincial laws prevent cities from allowing residents to park however they please on municipal streets, the legislation gives cities the ability to allow angle parking by posting signs— a simple fix for Calgary streets where residents currently illegally park nose-in.

“This is a solution to a problem that seems to be coming more and more,” Coun. Demong said Tuesday. In recent months, overnight enforcement blitzes targeting angle-parked vehicles have angered residents, who’ve parked their cars nose-in for years in an effort to save space.

“Let’s be flexible on stuff like this,” Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Tuesday.

“If we can figure out a way to get the waste and recycling trucks through, if we can figure out a way to make sure emergency vehicles can get through and it accommodates people in the culde-sac a little bit better, that’s not a bad thing.”

The approved notice of motion includes a cost-recovery mechanism “for the design, manufacturing, installation and maintenance of signage and road marking,” which Coun. Brian Pincott tried unsuccessfully to remove at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Keating said the cost for residents seeking angle parking on their cul-de-sacs wouldn’t be much and it makes sense.

“In this case, when it’s someone asking for us to go forward to do expenditures to make their life more convenient, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t pay a modest cost to do it,” he said.

Mac Logan, general manager of transportation, told council the city is “trying to be mindful of the financial circumstances that we’re in right now.”

“There are 2,500 cul-de-sacs in the city of Calgary and there’s probably going to be a few hundred that might be interested in this,” he said.

“We felt that, for their benefit, that it was reasonable that they shoulder that modest cost associated with it.”

Council is expected to hear back from city administration this summer on exactly how a process allowing citizens to angle park in cul-de-sacs would work.