Free parking back after outcry

By Collin Gallant on December 14, 2018.

Business owners are complaining that a portion of a city-owned downtown parking lot was changed from two-hour free parking to accommodate pass holders from a recently sold other lot. Officials told the News late Thursday, free parking would remain in place until late January.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

A downtown parking lot will revert back to free, two-hour parking until the Christmas shopping season is done after an uproar from certain business owners in the city centre.

About one-third of the Cottonwood Lot, kitty corner from city hall, had been set aside for free parking since major construction in the area five years ago. But, it was reverted back to pass-holders only on Nov. 30, partly to accommodate those who lost spaces when the nearby Chokecherry Lot was sold to a private developer earlier in the month.

Since then however, business owners have grown increasingly frustrated hearing customers complain about parking woe, while that lot remained mostly empty.

Grant MacKay, general manager of the city’s business support and Land department, says the City Centre Development Agency was informed of potential changes in early November, but he didn’t hear any concern until individual business owners approached his office on Thursday.

The city will however halt the change until Jan. 30, 2019, and until then, two-hour free parking will be allowed.

That should smooth over the issue until after the Holiday shopping season, said Mackay, but he feels the general issue should be explored further.

“There needs to be a full discussion about downtown parking with the stakeholders … and what responsibility the city has to provide parking,” said MacKay, noting his department’s mandate is to manage land inventory and consider selling municipal land, not provide parking.

Business owners took to social media earlier this week, blaming the parking change for a lack of traffic in December — a crucial time for retailers.

Gas City Tattoo owner Jeff Schmidt told the News that downtown already has a reputation for bad parking, and reducing the number of off-street spots adds to the problem.

“Most of the time it’s hard to find a spot on the side streets,” said Schmidt. “To have more two-hour free parking taken away is frustrating.”

The issue stems back to the early November sale of the Chokecherry lot to the owners of the adjacent building — the former Parker’s Countrywide location. The rationale was that the lot was excess to parking requirements in the city centre, and dedicated parking would help bolster redevelopment of the major retail space.

MacKay said parking pass holders, the CCDA and a neighbouring business were informed of potential changes to the parking situation the day after council approved the sale. Pass holders were offered spaces at alternate lots or a refund.

At the same time, the department discovered that the free-parking scheme at the Cottonwood Lot was put in place during heavy construction along First and Second streets several years ago as a way to help businesses mitigate on-street parking issues during road work.

It was never part of an official parking strategy, said MacKay, and the change back was made the same time Chokecherry permit holders were relocated.

For the time being, MacKay doesn’t envision conflict with pass holders left without spots.

“There are vacant spaces there and we don’t expect any impact for the pass holders for the interim six weeks,” said MacKay.

Note: This story has been updated to correct the name of the lot in question. It is the Cottonwood Lot, not the Linden Lot.

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