City council is hoping to eliminate gravel extensions added to residential driveways.

While the current driveway width bylaw is set at 29.5 ft, some have added gravel or crushed rock to widen their driveways on city boulevards.

"Which kind of defeats the purpose (of the by-law)," Winkler Mayor Martin Harder says.

Gravel can spill over onto the road and eventually cause problems for the city's sewer system. The gravel extensions also cause headaches when planting trees on city boulevards.

"I really don't know why a driveway needs to be wider than what's prescribed," Harder says. "It's becoming a problem for boulevard maintenance."

Home owners will be given a deadline of October 31, 2018 to remove gravel or stone from city boulevards. After that date, the city will landscape and seed the area over with grass.The city may also complete the work at the owner's expense with an additional penalty should the owner fail to complete the work by the required deadline.

Now that we have a by-law enforcement officer we will monitor and there will need to be some action taken," Harder says. "We want to make sure people comply with the by-law for the benefit of the entire community."

Exceptions, however, will be made for driveways that are 12 inches or more from the property line.

"People have to understand, boulevards are city property, they are not their own property," Harder says.