The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

c economist suntribune saturday aug 24 2002 3 big penalty for taking disabled parking spots maximum fine now 300 under new provincial law by joan ransberry staff writer illegal parking in a spot reserved for people with disabilities in york region is about to become a more painful experience in york region the standard fine which now ranges from 75 to 100 will soon increase to 300 thanks to the new ontario disabilities act the first municipality in york set to embrace the new law is whitchurchstouffville as of sept 1 anyone found guilty of violating this particular bylaw faces a 300 fine theres a marked difference between being forced to hand over 300 instead of the current 75 the towns chief bylaw enforcement officer keith saunders said hopefully the increase in the fine will make a difference mr saunders said something has to be done said mr saunders the problem just stays with us we have problem areas downtown stouffville is bad and so is musselmans lake during the summer months parking officials in neighbouring aurora are curious to see how the increased fines will play out as it is people come in to the town office yelling and screaming with their 75 fines said bob panizza auroras director of corporate serv ices it will be very interesting to see what some will do when theyre issued a 300 fine mr panizza the former cao in whitchurchstouffville is welcom ing the province- driven fine increase yes we have our fair share of violators its the same with people who park in fire zones he said while whitchurchstouffville council has already passed the appropriate bylaws enabling staff to proceed with the fine increase and staff is posting stickers on existing signs to notify the public of the new law other municipalities in york region are starting to put the wheels in motion councils in newmarket vaughan king georgina east gwillimbury richmond hill and markham will soon vote on a motions that would increase fines for parking in disabled spots to 300 staff photosjoerd witteveen town of whitchurch stouffville bylaw enforcement officers keith saunders and linda mainprize ticket a car on wednesday morning for parking in a disabled zone without a permit it turned out the driver had a permit but stashed it in the glove compartment instead of displaying it on the dash board the ticket was withdrawn by the officers who had earlier pasted stickers on the parking signs announcing the new maximum fine while some of the municipali ties dont have a serious problem with people parking illegally in places designated for those with disabilities theres a concern about the future tim gibson east gwillimburys chief building official has no prob lem drafting the bylaw linked to the new act for the primarily rural community it will be ready to go to council in early september said mr gibson its not a big issue here we dont have a lot of buildings where these parking spots are needed but we do have the silver city theatre and the keg restaurant also costco is coming as we get more buildings we will get more complaints of illegal parking well need more as more build ing comes this is a good thing i hope the increase in the fine will act as a deterrent richmond hill is not burdened with a great number of motorists violating the special parking spots but bylaw officer and parking facili tator dan jackman said permit holders often fail to display their permits properly it will be very interesting to see what some will do when theyre issued a 300 fine the special permit issued to an individual entitles the vehicle in which it is displayed to be parked in a designated parking space the permit must be displayed on the dashboard or sun visor and can be moved from vehicle to vehi cle there is no charge a licensed physician chiroprac tor physiotherapist or occupational therapist must certify the appli cants condition on the permit application in the city of vaughan staff is reviewing all matters linked to parking a report is being pre pared and will be presented to council sometime this fall said bill robinson of the citys engi neering department we haye some problems with people misusing the special park ing spots but no more than any other municipality said mr robinson town staff in markham is reviewing details of the disabilities act the municipality plans to make the needed changes in the fall said marjorie rebane markhams corpo rate communications director the disabilities act introduced by minister of citizenship carl defaria was designed to improve the lives of the provinces 19 million people with disabilities were continuing to get on with the business of making this a barri erfree society the act is farreach ing said mr defaria two weeks ago a resource pack age was mailed to municipalities across ontario including those in york region it provides guidance to munici palities to establish advisory com mittees as well as targeting people who violate the parking spots set out for people with disabilities other criti cal accessibility issues are to be examined over the next few months committees set up to deal with accessibility are to be set up in more than 10000 towns and cities across ontario making ontario more accessi ble is a shared responsibility stressed mr defaria dominion walmart sears sears appliance sale no frills ikea catalogue david khurana north durham real estate forever young bridal section zehrs dr anton cherry theralase office depot smart lawn athletes world crest white strips radio shack the bay grand and toy creative ads main drug mart living expressions smart source shop and save discount bazaar stouffville ida no one delivers results like we do response from your flyer distributions as these customers call us today mi