Brampton council has approved a new bylaw that will allow the city’s bylaw enforcement officers to issue tickets to vehicles parked on private front and side lawns and city-owned grass boulevards.

According to an April 30 report to council by bylaw enforcement supervisor, Mike Mulick, city staff regularly receives reports from residents about vehicles parked illegally on publicly owned boulevards and privately owned front and side yards.

Boulevards are defined under the bylaw as “that portion of the road allowance which is not used as a sidewalk, driveway access, travelled roadway or shoulder.”

While vehicles parked on grassed boulevards have always been ticketable under the city’s traffic bylaw, vehicles parked on front and side lawns required the city to issue property standards orders to have them removed.

This meant the city had to give offenders a minimum of 21 days to comply and remove a vehicle before any further punitive action could be taken.

The new Unauthorized Parking Area bylaw allows city bylaw officers to issue a ticket to vehicles parked illegally on private front and side lawns.

“An Unauthorized Area Parking By-law will decrease the time spent on parking complaints related to parking on front or side yards and allow for better utilization of staff and labour resources,” wrote Mulick in his council report.

Part of the problem, according to the report, is property standards officers only work during business hours, when most of the infractions occur in the evening hours and overnight. Bylaw enforcement officers are on patrol around the clock.

Also, charges laid under the property standards bylaw involve the court system and can take up to a year to resolve.

In 2017, Mulick said the city issued 832 tickets to vehicles parked on the grass portion of the boulevard, and 396 property standards orders to property owners with vehicles parked on front or side lawns.