Today’s Poll

City stations itself for new age in parking stall payment on Hall Street

Timothy Schafer
By Timothy Schafer
June 7th, 2017

Forget about saving your quarters and loonies for parking, the new age of positioning your vehicle in the downtown has arrived and it doesn’t require coins.

The city just passed third reading of a bylaw to allow the first pay station — or kiosk — in the downtown, with the unit to be placed on the corner of Baker and Hall streets to service the currently unmetered two-block portion of Hall Street.

The cost for the pay station is around $14,000, but with 38 stalls in the two blocks of Hall Street — and the average revenue of a parking stall at $1,300 per year — a “conservative estimate” by city staff of new revenue for 2017 is $12,000, and $25,000 for a full year.

It was the Hall Street Project that prompted the move into the new age. In 2016, phase one of the project was completed but it was determined that an alternate method of collecting parking fees in the 400 and 500 block of the street would be implemented in order to retain the improved streetscape. 

Towards that end, city staff determined that a single pay station could be implemented on the corner of Baker and Hall Street to service the two blocks of Hall Street. 

A further step was taken when the parking strategy was introduced at the May city council committee-of-the-whole meeting and included provision for the Hall Street kiosk, as well as suggestion of additional pay stations being installed in the future. 

However, Tuesday’s amendments also include changes to regulations for vehicles with valid handicap parking permits. 

At a special committee-of-the-whole meeting held on Jan. 27, city council directed staff to amend the Traffic Control bylaw to remove the exemption to pay the required parking fee at parking meters for vehicles with handicap parking permits and that designated handicap parking stalls be restricted to two hours of continuous parking.

An educational grace period will be instituted regarding the handicap parking regulations, with bylaw officers issuing a warning ticket with educational information about the revisions.

The new kiosk regulations will be posted on a sign in the Hall Street location, included in Hall Street Project literature, and posted on the city’s Facebook page and its website.

Although there will still be plenty of places to pay parking stall fees with coins, people will be able to purchase parking by using a credit card, debit card or cellular phone at the new pay station. 

The amended bylaw will be posted to the city’s website when adopted.

Categories: General

Other News Stories

Opinion