Jasper Municipal Council decided not to make paid parking last all year rather than just during the summer season.
CAO Bill Given presented on the proposal and other potential modifications to Jasper’s paid parking program during Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting.
These proposals were meant to help the municipality reach the paid parking revenue target of $1.35 million that council set for 2024.
“Administration estimates that moving to year-round operation could generate between $85,000 and $100,000 in additional revenue,” Given said.
Given noted that year-round paid parking could face pushback from regional visitors and downtown businesses that rely on these visitors during the slower winter months.
As well, because streets are less busy in the winter, more free parking would be available in areas adjacent to the paid parking zone, reducing the incentive for visitors to park within the zone.
“Certainly, administration and council have heard some of these concerns in the past, so this recommendation is not oblivious to those concerns,” Given said.
Administration also recommended an increase of 50 cents per hour for the on-street and off-street rates, from $3.50 to $4 per hour and $2.50 to $3 per hour respectively.
This would generate an estimated $180,000 in extra revenue.
“You can see that these rates are actually below the summer season rates for Banff, and they are in line with the peak rates in Canmore,” Given said.
Another proposal was reconfiguring the parking lot across from Nesters on Connaught Drive to turn existing oversized stalls into regular stalls.
“Bylaw staff reported seeing very low utilization of the oversized stalls over the course the summer, and there are additional options for oversized parking along Connaught directly along the street as well as in the RV parking lot on Hazel Avenue,” Given said.
“So, administration believes that there's an opportunity to generate a modest amount of new revenue, approximately $36,000, while providing more available parking for regular-sized vehicles.”
The reconfiguration cost would be minimal as the municipality would only be repainting the lines in the parking lot.
Finally, administration proposed adding a bus loading zone on Hazel Avenue adjacent to the RV parking lot.
This would not generate additional revenue but would help support commercial operators.
Coun. Wendy Hall was a vocal supporter of year-round paid parking and made the motion that committee recommend this course of action to council.
“I don't know why we wouldn't be looking at any way to take advantage of ways to generate revenue,” Hall said.
Coun. Helen Kelleher-Empey said she still wasn’t in support of paid parking during the winter months.
“Just look at this winter. There’s hardly anybody in town. We’re not there yet.”
Coun. Ralph Melnyk agreed that Jasper didn’t have the enough winter visitation at this time to justify expanding the paid parking program.
“This was a bit of a rough year, and for the amount of money that it will generate, the aggravation that it might cause with our more price-sensitive visitors may not be worth the additional amount.”
The motion related to year-round paid parking was defeated, with only councillors Hall and Kathleen Waxer voting in favour.
Hall also suggested that the municipality increase the rates by $1 rather than just 50 cents as originally proposed.
This would increase the rates from $3.50 to $4.50 per hour for on-street parking and $2.50 to $3.50 per hour for off-street parking.
“I think it’s incredibly important that we focus on generating as much revenue as we can that doesn't come from municipal taxes,” Hall said.
Committee voted to recommend this motion to council, which will make a final decision on the rates at a future meeting.
Coun. Scott Wilson was the only dissenting vote against the motion.
While he was in favour of increasing rates, he wanted to have more discussion about resident parking, such as whether the municipality should require passes or limit how much free parking residents are allowed to do.
Committee also directed administration to designate a bus loading zone on Hazel Avenue.
While Waxer moved to approve the reconfiguration of the Connaught parking lot, Mayor Richard Ireland questioned why the oversized stalls weren’t being charged for parking while the regular-sized stalls did have to pay.
CAO Given acknowledged that this was a reasonable observation.
Waxer decided to rescind her motion and make a new motion that committee direct administration to turn these oversized stalls into paid parking.
Paid parking will resume on May 1 and last until Oct. 31.
