If formally approved by council on Feb. 24, Niagara-on-the-Lake residents will be able to park on streets overnight.

At the committee of the whole general meeting Monday, councillors approved removing the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. parking prohibition.

The overnight parking and ticketing for on-street has been a hot topic among NOTL residents.

Following concerns from The Village residents in regard to an overnight parking prohibition in their neighbourhood, a survey was conducted in 2017 and staff came back with a report recommending amending the parking bylaw and removing the overnight parking prohibition.

There were also consultation sessions held in all five urban areas. Based on the low turnout and received responses, the majority of residents didn’t use or require on-street parking and when they needed to park on the street, they had no problems finding a spot, town staff said in a report.

The previous town council didn’t take any further action at the time.

A technical memo prepared by Parsons Engineering in 2019 stated the original intent for overnight parking prohibition was to allow road maintenance and was no longer needed as the town doesn’t perform maintenance activities during these hours.

“From the conclusions provided in the technical memo, the removal of the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. parking restriction should be considered based on updated town policies which render it obsolete,” town staff said in the report.

“Its removal would also provide an alternative to a permit system and potentially alleviate parking issues or concerns in localized areas where on-site parking space is limited.”

Lord Mayor Betty Disero also made a motion on Monday to move a no-parking sign at the intersection at Jordan street and Garrison Village Drive somewhere further to allow for a more clear view when residents are crossing that intersection.

She said the issue was brought up during her discussions with the area residents back in 2017.

Interim chief administrative officer Sheldon Randall said it would be a “political move” rather than a “technical decision” based on factual data. Without having data to back the motion, he said he would have a challenge supporting it.

Disero agreed, saying it was political.

“My point is: this is something that these residents feel strongly about. And I don’t believe those people who wanted to be allowed to park all night will disagree with it, so for the sake of peace in The Village, I’m asking that we move that parking prohibition.”

Initially, Disero suggested moving the sign five feet or 1.5 metres from the curb.

Randall said town staff would change the location of the parking sign but they would review the site using “rationale” instead of “randomly picking a number” and then would report back to council.

“We know there’s a desire from council to gain some more space. Leave it with us and we will report back in an information report on what we’ve changed it to,” he said.

Coun. Wendy Cheropita said she drives through the intersection “all the time.” When people go straight through the intersection exiting from Jordan Street and if there are parked cars on the corner, it’s difficult to see if anyone’s coming along Garrison Village Drive, she said.

Disero’s motion to direct staff to review the intersection to increase site lines and come back with an information report was then approved.