Less rigid winter parking restrictions in March

CORNWALL – Some parking restrictions may be loosed as Cornwallites head into spring, much like already takes place in the fall.

But it’s a little more tricky as city crews are dealing with snowfall cleanup from the hard winter – a situation not faced in the fall.

Council passed the modifications to the winter parking restrictions Monday night.

“Maybe this can be a test to look at the entire winter. It’s done in other cities like Montreal,” Murphy said, suggesting that parking could be allowed overnight on streets when it’s not snowing.

“It’s done in larger centers, I can’t see why we can’t do it here,” Murphy said.

Right now, from Nov.15 to Dec. 15 you’re allowed to park on the street overnight provided there is no more than five centimeters of snow forecast by Environment Canada.

An overnight parking ban is usually in place from Dec. 15 until March 31.

But the restriction can now be lifted in March subject to approval by the general manager of municipal works.

“We would go through conventional media (to let people know) also through social media and set things up on our Pingstreet app,” said John St. Marseille, general manager of infrastructure.