WATERLOO — University students be warned: city hall may bill you if your St. Patrick's Day party spills onto the sidewalk or road.

A new bylaw approved Monday by Waterloo council sticks party hosts with enforcement costs if authorities shut down a gathering that blocks pedestrians or traffic.

"It gives us extra tools for our bylaw workers to be able to take action on large, unsanctioned street parties," Mayor Dave Jaworsky said. "I think this will give the capability for our bylaw people to speak with authority, that parties are growing too big."

Proposed dollar amounts are unspecified. They could include costs for the time of bylaw officers or police who shut down a party. They could include costs for cleanup or damage or equipment.

Imposing costs tells people "they need to be held accountable when their actions on private property impact the public right-of-way," said Shayne Turner, Waterloo's director of municipal enforcement.

The bylaw is meant to help tamp down the March 17 St. Patrick's Day bash that typically fills Ezra Avenue with drunk partygoers. March 17 falls on a Saturday this year.

"My goal for St. Patrick's Day is to see it get a little bit smaller and stay safe," Jaworsky said.

Waterloo's proposed bylaw follows bylaws in London and Guelph that outlaw "nuisance parties." Such parties are defined by public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, unreasonable noise or disturbances, and spillover that obstructs traffic or emergency services.

Guelph imposes a fee for enforcement costs "upon any person sponsoring, conducting, continuing, hosting, creating, causing or permitting" a nuisance party. London permits fines of up to $500 on someone who hosts a nuisance party, or fails to leave one when asked.

Waterloo has not defined a nuisance party but now says nobody shall "cause, permit, sponsor, organize, conduct, host or attend any gathering" that blocks, interferes or obstructs a road, including a sidewalk.

"With such short notice, how are we going to get this message out?" Coun. Mark Whaley asked.

Students in the campus area of Wilfrid Laurier University are to be warned of the new bylaw Wednesday in a door-knocking campaign. Bylaw officers, student government leaders, and police will also list fines for public drinking and noise violations.

Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin wants to keep all roads open March 17. Additional officers from Peel Regional Police have been asked to assist in preventing an Ezra street party.

"What's disappointing about the growth of the St. Patrick's Day party is the fact that many of the students are nonlocals. They're being bused in from other university towns. And that's what we're really trying to stop this year," Jaworsky said.

jouthit@therecord.com, Twitter: @OuthitRecord

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