Parking, Urban Environment Agency | Residents are furious at the Urban Environment Agency’s decision:

OSLO, THE REVIEW (Nettavisen): Earlier this fall, residents of the Gjennomfaret neighborhood in Oslo, near the Berg metro station, were informed by the Urban Environment Agency that it was planned to introduce resident parking in October. Therefore, several were in favor of this, including Anne-Elise Torkelsen, who has lived in the Nordre Aker district neighborhood for more than 40 years.

Watch the video above: Torkelsen tells what happened and why residents are desperate.

– We were told to have resident parking, and most of us who don’t have a garage have. It was a simple matter. I understood it quickly, because I thought it was important, Torkelsen tells Nettavisen.

– Has no sense

Thus, the 82-year-old woman was shocked when she suddenly received information about something completely different.

– Neighbors let me know there was no point in getting resident parking, says Torkelsen.

What had happened was that the Urban Environment Agency earlier in the fall break had put up several posters that were covered with black garbage bags.

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– On Tuesday I saw some posters with black garbage bags on top, so I removed the plastic. And there I saw the “No Parking” sign. The posters were installed without anyone being notified in advance. Those returning from fall break will be surprised, says Lars-Einar Petterson, who also lives in Gjennomfaret.

The street is a dead end, and therefore only a few have had access to parking in their own lot or garage, residents report to Nettavisen.

– This means that people have to walk or drive about 700 meters to take parking spaces away from the neighbor, says Petterson.

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This causes Torkelsen to react strongly.

– We believe this is unreasonable. When you’re older, you’re dependent on a car and can park as close as possible when you’re shopping and otherwise, says the 82-year-old.

And add:

– In the first place, they should have told us that here it was “forbidden to park” or that it would be. So we would have had the opportunity to answer this, but we have not had the opportunity to do so. The signs have appeared without us being informed about it, concludes Torkelsen.

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Neighbors report that a loss of parking will affect around 20 cars, which without prior notice will lose the opportunity to park on the street, and therefore will have to move to other streets in the area to park.

Half meter

Neighbors have tried to get a response from the Urban Environment Agency, including Petterson, but have been on deaf ears, according to them.

– The only explanation we have received from the Urban Environment Agency is that the street is too narrow for emergency vehicles to arrive. The passage is five meters wide, but they say that the requirement to have parking on the street is that the street must be 5.5 meters wide. Several of the neighbors have lived here for many years and there has never been a problem before. It can also be practically solved by widening the road by 0.5 meters, says Petterson.

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One of the neighbors illustrates to Nettavisen that it is enough to expand 25 centimeters on each side, which should not be a problem since there is only grass there.

– Not notified in particular

The Urban Environment Agency (BYM) says that all residents of the affected area received an email, on Tuesday, September 22, informing them of the introduction of resident parking, but that they are not required to notify the signage changes to who live there.

– The individual signage of the different streets is not specifically notified. When individual sign regulations (which are made by street / neighborhood section) are submitted for reference, they are forwarded to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, the Police and the Planning and Construction Agency. Also, districts receive the bylaws as pure information, but they are not official consultative parties.

If they have input, of course, they will be considered, but they don’t have the same opportunity to change the regulations that the official consultation parties have. Other than informing districts, there is no practice of notifying residents of signage changes. There is also no ability to find all affected neighbors and neighbor alerts, as is done in p. construction cases, as in this case there are around 80 different regulations that have been made and more than 4000 residents, writes project director Marianne Solhaug Mølmen in an email to Nettavisen.

Watch video: The real estate king has little left for the Oslo City Council in this case:

Regulated by the Road Traffic Law

The online newspaper has also asked BYM how they can “out of nowhere” deny residents to park on their own property.

– As a signaling authority in Oslo, the Urban Environment Agency has the right to put up posters. This right is regulated in the Road Traffic Law. § 5, 3rd paragraph: The competent authority has on public and private property the right to erect public road signs, signals, equipment for traffic control and mooring for such facilities and make markings. It is not unusual for changes to occur in the streets when you live in a city, Mølmen writes.

– What is the real thinking of the Urban Environment Agency, when they first introduced resident parking, which the residents of Gjennomfaret have accepted, but suddenly U-turn and set “no parking”?

– The responsibility of the Urban Environment Agency is to ensure accessibility and safety. In this case, we believe ensuring accessibility (even for fire trucks) is more important than maintaining a short walking distance from the parking lot. No-parking signs still allow for short stops and necessary loading and unloading, says the project manager.

Re-regulated

However, the Urban Environment Agency does not share the opinion of residents that there is a “practical solution” to extend the street to 5.5 meters, so that parking is allowed in Gjennomfaret.

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– The project with parking for residents has received funding for the introduction of a scheme with parking for residents, that is, signage and installation of parking meters. It is not within the mandate or budget of the project to re-regulate the streets, increase the width of the streets, build sidewalks or the like. In Gjennomfaret, the street is regulated by a 5m gauge, so if residents want a wider street in the future, they need to regulate it again.

– Today there are curbs along the entire road on both sides, so widening the width of the road is somewhat more complicated than simply widening 25 centimeters on each side, although there is space available in practice, Mølmen writes for conclude.