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Bylaw staff kept busy in King Township

March 4, 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Mark Pavilons
King Township’s small bylaw enforcement staff are kept busy on a daily basis.
The bylaw enforcement activities were presented to King council recently, in a report by Clerk Kathryn Smyth.
She noted bylaw enforcement is carried out in every community across King and residents rely on this service. She stressed that each incident requires time, attention and resources to achieve compliance.
There were 496 occurrences last year, down from the 622 in 2012. As well, officers dished out 196 parking tickets in 2013, also down from the 305 written in 2012.
Parking tickets dominated the occurrences, followed by 137 property standards issues. Another 71 site alteration cases were handled.
Smyth noted the reason parking tickets dropped was a change in enforcement at the King City GO station parking lot.
Site alteration occurrences deal with the dumping of fill or construction activities taking place without proper permits.
Even though total complaints dropped last year, property related matters remain as the number-one concern. More than half of all occurrences involve site alteration, property standards and zoning.
Calls are linked to the seasons and the largest volumes are experienced April though August.
“As the Township continues to grow in population, it is anticipated that there will be increased demand for service over time,” Smyth noted.
The Township generates revenue through ticket fines and permit fees. The net revenue from all sources last year was $19,083.16. Sign permit revenues increased last year due to major commercial developments.
Smyth anticipates that revenue will continue to climb in 2014.
Last year, staff started using King’s Land Manager software, which allows better managing and information sharing of all occurrences.
A number of bylaws have undergone a review recently, the most notable being the sign bylaw and discharge of firearms bylaw. Others are still being discussed.
As calls increase, so too does the demand on staff time. Smyth said increased staff may be necessary down the road to handle the volume, which is being constantly monitored.

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