Okotoks Municipal Enforcement officers are asking for residents to help reporting abandoned vehicles this Winter.

Officer Sam Burnett asks that residents help in the Town's effort to get abandoned vehicles off the streets.

"We ask that the public let us know what's going on in their neighborhoods because we can't be in every single neighborhood all the time," Burnett said.

Abandoned vehicles are defined by Alberta law as vehicles which have been left at a standstill for longer than 72 hours.

Burnett says that residents should restrict on-street parking to vehicles that they use on a regular basis. A town bylaw requires all residences to have off-street parking.

"If you have vehicles you are parking on the street, it's important the vehicles you do park out there are vehicles you're using on a regular basis. Vehicles you use to commute to work, go to the grocery store, do most of your activities in," Burnett said.

Burnett says that finding abandoned vehicles becomes much easier in the winter.

"After a decent snowfall, we ideally have a period absent of snow. When you're driving around town, it hasn't snowed in seven days, you come across a vehicle that's completely covered in snow or surrounded by snow with no tracks leading in or out of the area, it's pretty easy to tell," Burnett said.

Leaving vehicles parked in the street can impede town snow removal efforts. By reporting abandoned vehicles, residents are helping maintain road conditions and driveability.

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