Did you know that the City of Duncan has a new parking bylaw?
I didn’t either until I got a parking ticket. I had stopped in downtown Duncan on a short errand late one morning and was back again later in the afternoon, parking in a different space.
According to a new bylaw, once you are noted to be in the downtown, if you leave you cannot come back for at least 10 hours.
That’s right — you cannot come into downtown Duncan on business more than once a day.
Bylaw No. 3101.01, 2014, adopted on Dec. 22, 2014 states that in any city block controlled by a parking limit, a vehicle cannot return to the same block within a 10-hour time period after the expiration of the original permitted time.
They define city block as being north of Government Street, south of and including Ingram Street, east of Boundary Street and west of and including Canada Avenue and the train station parking lot. That’s a very large block.
This bylaw was not publicized and there are no signs to warn people. Most of the people who come to downtown Duncan to shop don’t even live in the one square mile of the city. Certainly people from Chemainus or Lake Cowichan won’t know about Duncan’s bylaws. It needs to be posted.
The bylaw enforcement officer kindly said this time he would forgive the fine, but if it ever happens again then I will have to pay.
I can guarantee it won’t happen again because I will no longer shop or dine or bring visitors to downtown Duncan.
There are many friendlier places in the Cowichan Valley to take my business and my guests where I don’t have to guess at the parking bylaws.
Suzanne Anderson
North Cowichan