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VOLUME7 ISSUE 5
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Valley THURSDAY,NOVEMBER4,
1999
Will the tow trucks be coming for you next? If you park on Mckenzie Road in the coming months, they will.
photo: Darrell A/ary
Parking on McKenzie Road-soon illegal by Miranda Matthewman A memo is posted throughout the Abbotsford UCFV campus advising students and staff that parking on McKenzie Road will be illegal once the new parking lot is constructed. The parking lot is being built as a result of a tripartite agreement between UCFV, the Agricultural Land Commission and the City of Abbotsford. Both sides of McKenzie Road will be offlimits for parking, and anyone who continues to park in the restricted area will face immediate towing or a fine. The new lot is expected to be finished as of October 23, but this is not a definite date. Many students who park on McKenzie Road, avoiding the UCFV fees, are unaware that it will soon be illegal to park there. "I think it is fairly important to have some free parking," said student Martin Dmitrief, who parks regularly on McKenzie Road. "I've never seen any problems, but this will put pressure on the church parking lot, especially on busy days." Another stu_dentalso did not know about the impending bylaw. "A lot of people can't afford a loonie," said the woman, who did not want to be identified. "I don't think they (UCFV) should do it." Most students expressed the feeling that UCFV is trying to
make more money off of them through the pay parking lot.
UCFV agreed to the deal, but parking had to be removed."
According to UCFV staff involved in the agreement, the reason for the no-parking restriction on McKenzie Road is due to a condition set out by the Agricultural Land Commission. UCFV owns the land directly behind the daycare centre, but the land is part of the Agricultural Land Reserve. This means that the land is specifically reserved for use as farmland. Therefore, UCFV had to apply to th!! Agricultural Land Commission to release the land, allowing the school to continue developing. The ALC agreed to release it under set conditions, one of these being that UCFV would have to make it illegal to park on Mckenzie Road. The Agricultural Land Commission maintains that run off from cars parked on Mckenzie Road hanns the surrounding fannland.
Over a hundred vehicles park daily on McKenzie Road, and student enrollment is growing. Rob Kilfoyle also said that the new lot would have enough capacity for these vehicles with approximately seven to nine spaces to spare.
The City of Abbotsford has to agree to the deal, as the city will be responsible for implementing and enforcing the new bylaw. UCFV has signed the deal within the next few months the road will no longer be legal to park on. Rob Kilfoyle, Manager of Safety and Security at UCFV said, "This is not a revenue grabber ..Our end of the bargain was to get cars off McKenzie Road. In order to get the land released
Norah Andrews, the UCFV Vice President of Finance and Administration, has been representing the college to come to an agreement with the Agricultural Land Commission for the past eight years. "We could not ask the city to implement noparking without offering an alternative [the new lot]," she said. "This is a complicated issue." Thomas Mauler, an employee of the city who has been working closely with UCFV on this agreement, said that the city's involvement in this case is to implement the bylaw. The city will be responsible for putting up signs and enforcing the bylaw, once the signs are posted. Those parking in a no-parking zone will be subject to a fine of twenty-five dollars. The newsletter posted at UCFV states that vehicles will be immediately towed once construction has commenced on a detention pond and off-site stonn drainage. A press release is expected from UCFV Administration outlining the details of the no-parking bylaw.