Traffic and Parking Regulation Bylaw No. 839, 2007 — full text

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## District of Fort St. James Traffic and Parking Regulation Bylaw No. 839, 2007 A Bylaw to Regulate Traffic and Parking in the District of Fort St. James WHEREAS the Council of a municipality is empowered to enact a bylaw to make different regulations or prohibitions for the municipality, including regulations concerning traffic and parking; AND WHEREAS the Council is empowered to enact fines and penalties for violations of those regulations or prohibitions; NOW THEREFORE the Council of the District of Fort St. James, in open meeting assembled, hereby enacts as follows; ## 1. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS - 1.1 This bylaw may be cited as "District of Fort St. James Traffic and Parking Regulation Bylaw No. 839, 2007" - 1.2 This bylaw includes Schedule "A": Fines. - 1.3 "Village of Fort St. James Traffic Regulation By-law No. 136" (1971) and any amendments thereto are hereby repealed. - 1.4 If any provision of this Bylaw is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unlawful or unenforceable, that provision shall be severed from this Bylaw and shall not affect the validity of any remaining provision of this Bylaw. - 1.5 Metric dimensions are used in this bylaw. - 1.6 In this Bylaw words imparting the male gender include the female gender and either includes the neuter and vice versa, and words imparting the singular number include the plural number and vice versa ## 2. DEFINITIONS In this bylaw, unless context otherwise requires: - "Angle Parking" means the parking of a Vehicle other than parallel to a curb or lateral lines of the roadway, and shall mean that the right front tire shall be closest to the curb or edge of the highway. - 2.2 "Boulevard" means the area between the curbs, lateral lines, or the shoulder of a highway and the adjacent property line and includes a sidewalk. - 2.3 "Bylaw Enforcement Officer" means a person appointed by Council to enforce District Bylaws, or a Police Officer. - 2.4 "Commercial Trailer" means a trailer but does not include a recreational trailer or a trailer having a gross vehicle weight of less than 700 kilograms. - 2.5 "Commercial Vehicle" means a Vehicle which is a commercial vehicle defined as such and licensed under the Commercial Transportation Act, and any vehicle not so licensed but which is used for the collection or delivery or both of goods, wares, merchandise, or other commodity in the ordinary course of a business undertaking, and displaying a valid decal or plate issued by a municipality for the purpose of identifying a commercial vehicle. - 2.6 "Construction Vehicle" means a commercial vehicle that is at any time used to deliver construction materials or equipment, or used to do construction work. - 2.7 "Council" means the Council of the District of Fort St. James. - 2.8 "Crosswalk" means: - a) the portion of the roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs or by lines or other markings on the surface, or - the portion of a roadway at an intersection that is included within the connection of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on the opposite sides of the highway, or within the extension of the lateral lines of the sidewalk on one side of the highway, measured from the curbs, or in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the highway. - 2.9 "Curb" means that portion of any boulevard that borders on the highway. - 2.10 "Cycle" means a device having any number of wheels that is propelled by human power and on which a person may ride. - 2.11 "Disabled" means a person whose mobility is limited as a result of a permanent or temporary disability that makes it impossible or difficult to walk. - 2.12 "Disabled Zone" means a parking zone identified by the disabled persons parking insignia sign. - 2.13 "District" means the District of Fort St. James - 2.14 "Emergency Vehicle" means: - a motor vehicle carrying rescue or first aid equipment where there is an emergency justifying a rate of speed in excess of any maximum rate of speed provided for in the Motor Vehicle Act - b) a motor vehicle driven by a member of a fire department in the discharge of that member's duties; - c) a motor vehicle driven by a Police Officer, constable or member of the police branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces, in the discharge of that person's duties. - 2.15 "Gross Vehicle Weight" means the combined weight of the vehicle without the load plus the weight of any load thereon. - 2.16 "Highway" includes every highway within the meaning of the Highway Act, and every road, street, lane or right of way designated or identified for or used by the general public for the passage of vehicles. - 2.17 "Owner" as applied to a vehicle means: - a) the person who holds the legal title of a vehicle, - b) a person who is a conditional vendee, a lessee or a mortgagor, and is entitled to be in possession of the vehicle, or - c) the person in whose name the vehicle is registered. - "Park" means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, upon a highway except when the vehicle is standing temporarily for the purpose of and while actually used for loading or unloading of the vehicle. - 2.19 "Permit" means a document in writing issued by the Public Works Superintendent or the Bylaw Enforcement Officer, pursuant to this Bylaw. - 2.20 "Police Officer" means a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. - 2.21 "Public Works Superintendent" means the Public Works Superintendent of the District of Fort St. James or anyone authorized to act on his or her behalf. - 2.22 "Recreational Vehicle" means a motor vehicle or trailer designed, used or intended to be used primarily for accommodation during travel or recreation. - 2.23 "Resident" means a person who resides within the boundaries of the District of Fort St. James. - 2.24 "Roadway" means the portion of the highway that is improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, but does not include the shoulder; and where a highway includes two or more separate roadways, the term 'roadway' refers to any one roadway separately and not to all of them collectively. - 2.25 "Sidewalk" means that portion of the boulevard improved for the use of pedestrians. - 2.26 "Stop" means: - a) when required, a complete cessation from movement, and - b) when prohibited, the stopping or standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or to comply with the directions of a Police Officer or traffic control device. - 2.27 "Traffic" includes pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, cycles and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using a highway to travel. - 2.28 "Traffic Control Device" means a sign, signal, line, marking, space, barrier or device, placed or erected by authority of the Minister of Transportation and Highways, the Council of the District, the Public Works Superintendent or a person authorized by any of them to exercise that authority, for the guidance, regulation, warning, direction, or prohibition of traffic. - 2.29 "Trailer" means a vehicle without motor power designed to be drawn by or used in conjunction with a motor vehicle but does not include a sidecar attached to a motorcycle. - 2.30 "Vehicle" means a device in, on or by which a person or thing is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, except a device designed to be moved by human power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. ## 3. GENERAL POWERS OF THE PUBLIC WORKS SUPERINTENDENT - 3.1 The Public Works Superintendent is authorized to locate, establish and maintain upon any highway or boulevard such traffic control devices as may be deemed necessary for the regulation, direction, control, or prohibition of pedestrian traffic, vehicular traffic, and cycle traffic on any highway or boulevard. - 3.2 The Public Works Superintendent is authorized, at his discretion, to temporarily close any highway for any of the following purposes: - construction or maintenance, or both, of any highway or boulevard, or anything ancillary to any of them; - b) installation, maintenance or removal of utilities; - construction of buildings on abutting properties if, in the opinion of the Public Works Superintendent, such closure or occupation, or both, is desirable to facilitate such construction or is necessary to protect the public during such construction; - d) a parade, festival, or block party. - 3.3 The Public Works Superintendent or a Bylaw Enforcement Officer may order an owner or occupier of any premises to remove any accumulation of snow or ice from any sidewalk in front of or abutting the premises. ## 4. GENERAL POWERS OF BYLAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS - 4.1 A Bylaw Enforcement Officer is authorized to determine whether a vehicle has been abandoned and if that Bylaw Enforcement Officer is satisfied that a vehicle has been abandoned, the Bylaw Enforcement Officer may cause the vehicle to be removed and disposed of pursuant to the Motor Vehicle Act. - 4.2 A Bylaw Enforcement Officer may issue bylaw offense notices on any vehicle parked or stopped in contravention of this bylaw. - 4.3 A Bylaw Enforcement Officer may issue bylaw offence notices to individuals committing an offense under this bylaw. ## 5. STOPPING OR PARKING OF VEHICLES ## 5.1 Parking Prohibitions Except when necessary to avoid conflict with traffic or to comply with the law or the directions of a Bylaw Enforcement Officer, Police Officer, or traffic control device, no person shall: - park a vehicle upon any highway for any continuous period exceeding 48 hours without movement; - b) park a vehicle in any District-owned parking area for any continuous period exceeding 48 hours, without written authorization from the Public Works Superintendent or Bylaw Enforcement Officer; - c) abandon any vehicle upon a highway; - d) stop or park a vehicle on a boulevard or sidewalk; - e) stop or park a vehicle in contravention of a traffic control device; - f stop or park a vehicle on a highway so that it impedes the normal flow of traffic; - stop or park within 6 metres of the approach side of a crosswalk; - h) park a vehicle within 5 metres of a fire hydrant measured from a point on the curb or edge of highway which is closest to the fire hydrant; - i) stop or park a vehicle within 6 metres on the approach to a stop sign; - j) stop or park upon a roadway, other than on the right side of the roadway, and with the right hand wheels parallel to that side, except where angle parking is permitted; - k) stop or park a motor vehicle or trailer on a highway without displaying on it the number plates issued for the current licence year of that motor vehicle or trailer; - stop or park any vehicle so that it impedes passage of vehicles entering or exiting private property via a private driveway; - m) stop or park any vehicle on any highway for the purpose of greasing or repairing such vehicle except repairs necessitated by an emergency; - n) occupy a vehicle as living quarters for any continuous period exceeding 24 hours while it is parked upon any highway or in any other public place, excluding designated camping or resting areas; - o) stop or park a vehicle in a designated disabled zone unless the vehicle displays a valid disabled parking permit; - p) stop, park or leave standing any vehicle, attended or unattended, adjacent to or upon a curb painted yellow, except where necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic, or in compliance with the direction of a bylaw enforcement officer or traffic control device. ## 5.2 Manner of Parking - a) No person shall stop or park a vehicle other than parallel to the curb on a highway, except where signs or markings indicate that angle parking is permitted, in which case the vehicle shall be parked at the angle to the curb indicated by such signs or markings, and parallel to and between such markings and as close to the curb as practicable, but in no case greater than 30 centimetres from the curb. - b) Where parallel parking is permitted, vehicles shall be parked with wheels nearest the boulevard positioned parallel to the highway, and where there is a curb, within 30 centimetres of the curb. ## 5.3 Commercial Trailer Parking - a) No person, being the owner or operator of a commercial trailer shall park such a commercial trailer when it is attached to a vehicle on any highway for more than two consecutive hours, except when the vehicle is delivering or picking up goods, merchandise or other things, or waiting to do so. - b) No person, being the owner or operator of a commercial trailer shall place or park such commercial trailer on any highway if such trailer is not attached to a vehicle and capable of being pushed or drawn at all times, without first obtaining a written permit from the Public Works Superintendent or Bylaw Enforcement Officer. ## 5.4 Vehicles Exempt from Parking Regulations Notwithstanding anything elsewhere contained in this bylaw, the provisions relating to stopping or parking of vehicles shall not apply to: - a) emergency vehicles; - b) vehicles used in conjunction with the servicing of public utilities including telephone systems, electric systems, natural gas systems, water systems and sewage systems; - c) municipal and other government vehicles; - d) towing service vehicles. This exemption does not relieve the drivers of said vehicles from taking due precautions to indicate their presence on a highway parked or stopped, while engaged in work. ## 6. HIGHWAY USAGE ## 6.1 Pedestrians No person or persons shall stand or assemble on any highway or sidewalk so as to obstruct or prevent other persons from using the highway or sidewalk for the passage of motor vehicles or pedestrians. ## 6.2 Regulation of Cycles, Skateboards, and Roller Blades - a) Unless the context otherwise requires, a person operating a cycle on a highway has all the rights and is subject to all the duties that any vehicle operator has under this bylaw. - b) Any person operating a skateboard, rollerblades or other similar equipment and apparatus associated with such equipment, shall yield the right of way to and shall not interfere with the quiet enjoyment of any person or traffic on or in a public place, highway or road. ## 6.3 Vehicle Regulations Except as authorized by a written permit from the Public Works Superintendent, no person shall drive or operate on a highway; - a) A passenger vehicle so loaded that any part of the load extends beyond the sides of the vehicle or more than 185 cm beyond the back of the vehicle; - b) A vehicle having wheels or tracks constructed or equipped with projecting spikes, cleats, ribs, clamps, flanges, lugs, or other attachments or projections which extend beyond the tread, traction surface or smooth surface of the wheel, tread or track, excluding studded tires and tire chains of reasonable proportions when required for safety; - c) A vehicle that is dropping, sifting, or leaking any escapement of its load; 4. A vehicle with any load unless the load or any covering thereon is securely fastened so as to prevent the covering or load from becoming loose, detached, or in any manner hazardous to other users of the highway; ## 6.4 General - No person shall remove any notice affixed or placed on a vehicle by a Bylaw Enforcement Officer unless he is the owner or operator of such vehicle; - b) No person shall camp overnight on any highway or in any park or in any parking area, other than those areas approved for overnight camping; - c) No person shall remove, alter, deface, cover up or damage any traffic control device erected pursuant to the provisions of this bylaw. - d) No person shall place, erect or display on or within view of any highway, any sign, signal or other device which purports to be or imitates or resembles any traffic control device. - Except as specifically authorized by a resolution of Council or by bylaw, no person acting in the course of that person's business, shall place or cause or permit to be placed by any person in their employ or under their control, any fuel, merchandise, chattel or wares of any nature on any highway or boulevard, or to conduct business from a vehicle parked on any highway. - The Public Works Superintendent or Bylaw Enforcement Officer may seize any merchandise, vehicle, uel, chattel or wares of any nature found to be unlawfully occupying a portion of a highway oulevard or public place and may cause such object to be removed. detained and impounder - 8) No person shall cause or permit refuse of any type to be thrown, dropped or let fall from or out of any vehicle onto any highway, sidewalk or boulevard. ## FINES AND PENALTIES ## 7.1 Violations Every person who violates any of the provisions of this bylaw, or who suffers or permits any act or thing to be done in contravention of this bylaw is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more that two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) and costs (including the costs of the committal and conveyance to the place of imprisonment) for each offense, and in default of payment therefore, to imprisonment of a term not exceeding six months in jail. Each day that such violation is permitted to continue shall be a separate ## 7.2 Ticketing "A", attached hereto and forming part of this Bylaw. ## 7.3 Impoundment of Vehicles - a) Any vehicle unlawfully occupying any portion of District property, highway, boulevard, highway, or public place may, upon the order of a Bylaw Enforcement Officer, be removed to an impoundment - b) Any vehicle parked on a highway that is deemed to be an impedance to snow removal may, upon the order of the Public Works Superintendent, be removed to an impoundment lot. - c) A vehicle removed under Sections 7.3(a) or 7.3(b) will not be released to its owner until the costs of its removal and impoundment are paid. These costs are established in an agreement between the District and its towing agent. 4. If a vehicle that has been impounded is not claimed by its owner within thirty-one days of being given a notice of the impoundment, the vehicle may be sold at public auction. Any monies received on the vehicle's sale shall be applied to the cost of the sale, impoundment, storage, and removal fees. In the event of a surplus, the monies will be sent to the registered owner at the address shown for such owner in the records of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles. ## 7.4 Disposal of Objects - a) After the expiration of thirty-one days from the date of seizure of an object, the Public Works Superintendent is authorized to sell the object by auction and the proceeds of the sale shall be the property of the District. - b) The District may recover fees, costs, and expenses for removal, detention, impounding and storage of an object seized by sale of the object at public auction. - c) Where, in the opinion of the Public Works Superintendent, it is impractical to dispose of a seized object by pubic auction, the Public Works Superintendent may dispose of the object in any way deemed fit. ## 7.5 Liability for Damages and Costs In addition to all other penalties herein provided, any person causing damage to any highway or boulevard, or any person being the owner or operator of a vehicle that has caused damage to any highway or boulevard, shall be responsible for the cost of repairing such damage. READ A FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD TIME THIS 28" DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2007. ADOPTED THIS 14TH DAY OF MARCH, 2007.  Rob MacDougall, Mayor/ Halle Tigel Black, CAO Certified a true copy of "District of Fort St. James Traffic and Parking Regulation Bylaw No. 839, 2007".   ## Bylaw No. 839, 2007 Schedule "A": Fines | Offence | Section | Fine First Offence | Fine Subsequent Offence | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------|----------------------|---------------------------| | Park exceeding 72 hours without moving | 5.1 (a) | $25.00 | $50.00 | | Park overnight | 5.1(b) | $50.00 | $75.00 | | Abandon vehicle | 5.1 (c) | $100.00 | $200.00 | | Stop or park on boulevard or sidewalk | 5.1 (d) | $50.00 | $75.00 | | Stop or park in contravention of traffic control device | 5.1(e) | $25.00 | $50.00 | | Stop or park to impede flow of traffic | 5.1(f) | $25.00 | $50.00 | | Illegal stopping or parking | 5.1(g), (h), (i), i) | $25.00 | $50.00 | | Unlicensed vehicleltrailer parked on road | 5.1(k) | $50.00 | $100.00 | | Stop or park vehicle of more than 4,600 kilograms over 2 hours | 5.1(I) | $50.00 | $100.00 | | Stop or park on highway for maintenance | 5.1(m) | $50.00 | $100.00 | | Use vehicle as living quarters | 5.1(n) | $50.00 | $50.00 | | Park or stop in disabled zone | 5.1(o) | $50.00 | $100.00 | | Violation of parallel parking | 5.2(a), (b) | $25.00 | $50.00 | | Parking commercial trailer over 2 hours | 5.3 (a) | $50.00 | $100.00 | | Park or place unattached commercial trailer on highway without permit | 5.3(b) | $50.00 | $100.00 | | Person(s) obstructing highway or sidewalk | 6.1 | $25.00 | $50.00 | | Interference with pedestrians | 6.2(b) | $25.00 | $50.00 | | Overloaded passenger vehicle | 6.3(a) | $100.00 | $150.00 | | Operating vehicles with tracks, cleats, ribs, clamps, flanges, lugs, etc., on highway | 6.3(b) | $500.00 | $750.00 | | Vehicle dropping, leaking, shifting load | 6.3(c) | $250.00 | $500.00 | | Insecurely fastened cover on load | 6.3(d) | $100.00 | $200.00 | | Removal of posted notice on vehicle | 6.4(a) | $100.00 | $150.00 | | Illegal overnight camping | 6.4(b) | $100.00 | $200.00 | | Remove, alter, deface, cover, damage traffic control device | 6.4(c) | $200.00 | $200.00 | | Display imitation traffic control device | 6.4(d) | $200.00 | 200.00 | | Conduct business from a vehicle or place merchandise on any highway | 6.4(d) | $200.00 | $300.00 | | Refuse from vehicle | 6.4(g) | $50.00 | $100.00 |