By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter)

City not anticipating major changes to parking system

Jun 19, 2018 | 12:30 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Two-hour zones are the biggest source of complaints about the new downtown parking system, the city said in a news conference Tuesday, June 19.

Three weeks after electronic kiosks replaced the old meters, downtown revitalization manager Andrew Malcolm said the city’s heard positive and negative feedback, and it’s all being gathered.

“We’ve had a variety of complaints,” Malcolm said. “I think the number one complaint was probably in relation to the Zone Two, which is the core of the downtown, and what potential challenges that creates for businesses that have longer than two-hour business: restaurants, tattoo parlours, hair salons that have those appointments that potentially extend past the two-hour limit.”

Malcolm said Zone Three spots, with a three-hour limit, are fairly close to Zone Two, and if someone moves their vehicle from a two-hour to a three-hour zone, they can buy more time. Ultimately, he said, it requires planning ahead.

He also said they haven’t ruled out the ability to “top-up” beyond the two-hour limit.

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“It’s something that the city is taking into consideration. However, it does, in a way, work against what we are trying to implement with the zones and trying to create that turnover for customers and businesses, to have opportunity for people to park in front of their business. The top-up option really does take that away to a certain extent, but we’re not writing anything off the table right now,” Malcolm explained.

Ted Stilson, executive director of the Downtown BRZ, said he hoped to counter some of the negative attention the system has been getting, particularly social media, by spotlighting the satisfaction of other drivers as well as business owners.

“Obviously, the city has to do some tweaking and some adjustments,” he said in reference to the ten-hour zones. “We’ve also heard that there’s a lot of ten-hour parking available, and the city’s working on adding some more spots in the downtown core to make it even more convenient for some of the employees and some of the business owners to park.”

Stilson believes while downtown is just as busy as before, there appears to be plenty of parking available. He is aware some people are using Park Place Mall’s free parking while shopping elsewhere, but the mall is taking steps to address that.

Speaking at the city’s news conference, Jeremy Duchan of Gentlemen Three Men’s Wear said the shorter time limit works best for his business due to the increase in turnover.

“As far as the turnover perspective, I think it’s working fantastic, in fact to the point where it’s a little lonely in our street because there’s not a lot of parking there that we used to see, but ultimately that’s the goal that it’s trying to achieve,” Duchan said. He added they’ve had to help a few of their customers with the kiosks, but feedback has been positive.

Justin Tavernini of O2 Training Centre agreed that their customers, who are typically there for less than two hours, have more spots to choose from. It also means employees aren’t taking up spots in front of the business, and one of the biggest issues for him is that there’s enough 10-hour parking for those employees.

Malcolm said the city is giving people time to adapt, while listening to feedback, but doesn’t want to make changes as a knee-jerk reaction.

“We will take all that feedback and review the system, and if there’s anything that makes sense from a city and from a downtown perspective, we’ll implement those changes going forward.”

He said the city has clarified the wording used on the kiosk screens, to ensure people understand they can still use coins, with no minimum charge. Warnings are still being issued, but Malcolm said violation tickets will be written starting the week of June 25.