TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WBEN) - Starting on Tuesday, drivers in the City of Tonawanda will no longer be able to park their cars on the street during the overnight hours.
Despite a forecasted temperature in the 80s on Tuesday, the winter overnight parking ban takes effect on Tuesday.
For the last three days, about 1,200 vehicles were given warning reminders that they can no longer park on the streets.
Foels said ticketing will begin on Tuesday.
"The ordinance reads October 1," he said.
He said there are some special circumstances where you can argue your $30 ticket. Some of those currently include having a recently sealed driveway or if there isn't enough room in your driveway if you have guests over. Foels said they will give people some breaks depending on the circumstances.
"Once that snow starts flying, all bets are off," Foels said. "It's strictly enforced."
Most municipalities in the region begin their parking bans in November. The City of Buffalo's winter parking ban took effect last year on November 15. Winter parking bans in Amherst, Cheektowaga, and Hamburg take effect on November 1. The City of Tonawanda's winter parking ban is among the earliest in the region.
"Cities are under different rules than towns," City of Tonawanda Mayor Rick Davis said. "Towns have the ability to lift their parking bans. I don't have the power to lift the parking ban. The council would have to publish a change in the resolution in the newspaper, wait two weeks, then vote on it to adopt it. You're looking at a month process just to lift the parking ban because of nice weather. By then it's already a moot point."
Davis said there are pluses and minuses to having an earlier parking ban. He said that while there are some who gripe about the restrictions, others are happy that someone else's car that is constantly parked in front of their homes will leave.
The mayor said there usually aren't tickets issued on the first day of the ban but can't promise that an illegally parked car won't be ticketed.
She said that residents have not attended council meetings to share concerns about the winter parking regulations.