St. Catharines Parking Enforcement is going to start cracking down on people abusing free parking.
During last night's meeting, council heard some drivers have been leaving vehicles in parking spaces for extended periods of time because parking fees have been waived.
CEO Shelley Chemnitz says, "The city has received a number of complaints from business owners that vehicles are parked in front of their business for periods of time far exceeding the three hour time limit, and this certainly does not support the spirit of the council motion at the January 18th meeting."
In mid-January council passed a motion waiving parking fees to encourage more people to shop locally either by using curbside pick-up options or by shopping in store when restrictions allowed.
To combat the misuse, council unanimously passed a motion calling on city staff to enforce all of the city's parking by-laws.
The fees are still waived for on-street parking and parking in municipal lots until the end of April but all other restrictions will still be in place, including time limits.