Parking bylaw passed

North Bay council has approved a two-hour parking restriction for the 100 block of First Avenue East.

The restriction, which council passed Monday night at its final meeting, will be in effect between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and comes in response to complaints from First Avenue residents.

Council has already okayed turning one-third of an acre of land it owns on First into a monthly parking lot to deal with public parking problems on First and Second avenues.

A $25 per month fee would be charged for parking in the new lot.

"Got what we wanted"
John Giroux, a resident in the area, brought a petition to council asking for action on the parking issue.

Giroux, pictured above, attended Monday night’s meeting and said he was happy with council’s decision.

“We got what we wanted and I think it’s going to work out in the long run,” Giroux said.

“This way if we do have visitors who come over, they can at least park on the street and not have to walk two blocks. That was our main concern.”

Only way to do it
Prior to the $25 fee being implemented, people had been parking for free on the city-owned lot, Giroux said.

“I know those people are not going to be happy, but we had to get our streets back and that was the only way to do it,” Giroux said.

Council’s General Government committee had originally recommended holding off on the two-hour parking restriction and reviewing the matter next July.

But chairwoman Lynne Bennett acted on Giroux’s suggestion that the restriction be imposed now.

Acquired property through swap
Coun. Maureen Boldt said there’s one more thing that has to be done now.

“We have to address the issue of traffic congestion in that area,” she said.

The city acquired the First Avenue property, which had originally belonged to the Near North District School Board, by swapping property it owned on Cartier Street with a developer.

Coun. Laurie Kidd, who, last week, called the swap “a grave error" voted against the latest parking decision.