Buffalo, NY (WBEN) With little to no sign of accumulating snow in the short-term forecast, a number of communities are pushing back the usual start of winter overnight parking rules. Two communities are holding off until December 1st.
Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Joe Emminger says last year the town shrunk the period by a month, now starting normally on November 15th going through March 15th. This year, he says the town and Village of Kenmore will wait until December 1st to ticket cars parked on streets overnight. "The weather forecast for the next couple of weeks looks good. So we decided to go ahead let the people enjoy their Thanksgiving holiday weekend with not having to worry about company and parking overnight," says Emminger.
He says consultations take place with the building and highway departments in determining when to push back the date as well as the weather. Emminger says he's willing to one day change those rules. "I'd love to say that we can lift them and just use our mass communication tool to get the message out when we do want cars off the street, but we just don't have enough residents registered for that yet, so we still have to have a local law that that comes into play here, but hopefully someday we'll be able to lift it entirely during the winter, because usually there's only a couple storms that usually it comes into play where we need to get the cars off the off the street," says Emminger.
The same goes for North Tonawanda, where the ban normally starts on November 1st. This year, Mayor Austin Tylec says it will take effect on December 1st. Tylec says he too gets feedback from police and highway crews. "We've had some pretty mild winters. It falls really over the years and I just thought it would be an easier thing for everyone to just push it back a month and it makes sense right now," explains Tylec.
Tylec says pushing the restrictions back is up to the mayor or supervisor in a city or town. He says it's just an easier call depending on the weather. "You've seen in years past too there's been instances where it snowed in early October. I think it's one of these things that every year, we kind of play by ear and make a the right decision and and even if it does snow tomorrow, we hope that people will just park off the street so our DPW can make sure we can plow the roads safely and effectively," says Tylec.
Buffalo is adjusting its winter parking restrictions until November 22nd.