The light show started off slowly after Steve Slaby pulled into Britannia Park late Monday night, but it didn’t disappoint.
“It just kept getting better and better and better,” he said. “It was peaking at one in the morning, when it was just out of this world: greens, reds, yellows, all sorts of colours, and lots of movement.”
He captured vivid pictures of the aurora borealis, now around the peak of its 11-year cycle. Slaby was so captivated that he wasn’t thinking much about the time.
But bylaw officers were.
“One of the vehicles came driving down on the beach with his spotlight,” he said. “They were hunting for people.”
They were also hunting for vehicles, including Slaby’s. The spectacle landed him a $70 ticket for parking his car in a lot within the park after hours. The restriction is marked on a small sign along the road leading toward the beach, though Slaby didn’t see it.
It wasn’t the first time bylaw officers swooped in on that parking lot on a night with a promising aurora forecast. Stella Ness and her partner were ticketed there on Aug. 2 as they tried to catch a glimpse of the lights from the beach.
“I think the city should stop ticketing for the northern light show,” she said. “They need to tell their bylaw officers to cool it.”
Her feelings are shared by aurora chasers across Ottawa who feel officers have been aggressively enforcing park closure bylaws. From tickets at Britannia Park to roadblocks at Petrie Island, they’re finding few dark, open spaces within urban Ottawa left open for the show.
“I think the city needs to be aware that there is a celestial event that is wonderful, that is awe-inspiring and amazing,” said Ness.
Bylaw director understands frustration
The early hours of Monday were another promising time for watching the northern lights, and the city confirmed it handed out nine tickets in Britannia Park on Oct. 7.
It said the vehicles were parked in contravention of the traffic and parking bylaw, which forbids vehicles from parking in lots within city parks between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
“We understand the frustration of those who received a ticket on October 7 while trying to enjoy the aurora borealis,” said an emailed statement attributed to Roger Chapman, director of bylaw and regulatory services.
He said the bylaw is in place to ensure public safety. A separate bylaw also prohibits any person from being in a park during those same overnight hours, unless as part of a function approved by the city.
“While our By-law Officers always try to use discretion whenever possible, in this instance several unattended vehicles were found parked illegally in a closed public space,” said Chapman. “As such, tickets were issued while drivers were not with their vehicles.”
The city did not explain whether the enforcement actions responded to public complaints, or were taken upon the bylaw department’s own initiative.
Petrie Island blockades thwart aurora chasers
City media relations confirmed that Ottawa has no official sky viewing sites and it “is not something asked of us in the past.”
Slaby said Britannia is better than most other options within the city’s urban area, since there’s less light pollution looking across the river to the north. It’s also highly accessible, even to people without vehicles.
In the east end, Petrie Island is another popular dark spot for aurora chasers. They, too, have faced tickets — and even a physical barrier.
Jeffrey Poll said he went to Petrie Island earlier this summer hoping to view the aurora, and saw about 30 to 40 other cars there at the same time. A city vehicle then arrived and an official told everyone to leave, activating the flashing lights. Poll found it “aggressive and unneeded.”
Matt Manor said he’s been dreaming of seeing the lights for years but was never able too, until this Monday.
He was scrolling through his phone when he saw that it was happening. He called it a “once-in-a-lifetime event.”
“I got myself out of bed, dressed and headed out around midnight to the darkest area in Orléans,” he said.
As he arrived at Petrie Island, he saw a city bylaw vehicle parked with its emergency lights on.
“They were turning people away from going in,” he said, calling it “egregious” and “silly.”
“I’m going to soak it in, take some pics, then go back home for rest because I work in the morning,” he said. “I feel it’s reasonable to allow someone to do that.”
Ottawa resident Steve Slaby says he was ticketed at Britannia Beach on Oct. 8 while taking photos of the aurora borealis, while Stella Ness says she and her partner got a ticket while trying to see the lights on Aug. 2.
Councillor sees need for discretion
Joe Pavlevich was so frustrated with bylaw enforcement that he contacted his councillor, Matt Luloff. In a lengthy email, he suggested that Ottawa seemed to be earning its reputation as “the city that fun forgot.”
Pavlevich noticed that the lights were visible from his Fallingbrook neighbourhood Monday night, and decided to venture to one of the darkest nearby vantage points: Petrie Island.
“Imagine my surprise to find a city of Ottawa Bylaw officer blocking the road and access to the park,” he wrote to Luloff.
“Since this was a unique event that many people rarely get to witness, I asked if I could go down to get a better view.”
The answer was no, according to Pavelevich, since Petrie Island closes at 9 p.m.
“We recently hired a night mayor to engage and activate the city after hours,” Pavelevich added. “Yet here we were in an extremely rare event having one of the best vantage points blocked off so no one could enjoy the show in a publicly owned space.”
He doesn’t understand why bylaw can’t show more discretion. In a response to CBC, Luloff said the park, which is unlit, is closed for safety reasons and to prevent nuisance activity. But he saw Pavlevich’s point.
“Now, obviously this seems to be a bit of a special circumstance, and I would hope that bylaw would exercise a degree of permissive discretion in these matters,” Luloff said. “There are very few places within the urban boundary that one might observe these beautiful natural phenomena without the hindrance of city lights.”
Bay ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh said it’s “obvious” that the city needs park curfews, but said she was surprised to hear bylaw was patrolling Britannia Park at that time.
“I’m sorry it happened to them,” she said of the aurora chasers.
Outside night commissioner’s mandate, city says
Slaby and Ness agreed that the city’s new night commissioner should be paying more attention to the aurora — and all the barriers the city is putting in the way of those who want to enjoy it.
“I thought he’s to promote nightlife events and activities,” Slaby said. “This could be one of them.”
CBC requested an interview with the nightlife commissioner, but the city said the issue does not quite fall under his mandate and work plan. It is not something his office is currently focused on, city media relations said in a statement, adding he has “nothing to contribute at this time regarding city park hours of operation.”
Chapman encouraged residents who need to access parks after closing hours to apply for a permit.
“This ensures everyone can enjoy our parks safely,” he said.
Slaby said that might sound good in principle, but it isn’t always easy to predict when the lights will be worth seeing. The forecast might suggest when the aurora is likely, but the real data doesn’t arrive until the show is about to start.
“You know there’s a potential for it, but then you won’t know it’s actually going to happen until maybe 30 minutes or 60 minutes before,” he said.
Ness agreed that aurora chasers sometimes have to react fast.
“The aurora is very whimsical. She comes when she wants to,” said Ness. “You have to be able to act at a moment’s notice.”