Sunset Boulevard won’t get boulevard parking exemption

In this February 2018, file photo, an SUV is parked illegally on the boulevard section of Sunset Boulevard in Cornwall, Ont. Staff are recommending that city council not give an exemption for boulevard parking after it received a petition for the exemption. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston, File)

CORNWALL – An ask by residents along Sunset Boulevard to have an exemption to park on the boulevard won’t be going ahead.

A report to council for Monday’s meeting (April 9) says the only exemptions are for short-term parking or stopping on the boulevard outside Cornwall convenience stores or businesses. The boulevard is the paved section, usually between the sidewalk and the road.

As such, staff are recommending council not give an exemption to residents along Sunset Boulevard. Staff are also worried that granting this would set a precedent and “may trigger similar requests elsewhere.”

There are also concerns about sight lines for other street users and interference from cars and trucks parked on the boulevard overhanging the sidewalk.

Cornwall’s bylaw department chief told the budget committee in February it would be clamping down of drivers illegally parking on the boulevard in order to reduce liability claims against the city.

The city has had to pay damage claims in the past, mostly in winter, for vehicles parked in the boulevard, which were hit by flying snow and ice from snowplows.