NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT A pickup backs into a parking spot on Third Street downtown on Tuesday afternoon. The Medicine Hat Police Service will acquire a digital license plate reader in 2020 that they believe will help enforce a two-hour time limit for onstreet parking in the busy city centre.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
City police hope that a new program in 2020 to electronically scan licence plates and issue parking tickets will address long-standing concerns about the availability of on-street parking in the downtown core.
Included in Monday’s city budget update for next year is a $70,000 purchase of the scanner, which will be mounted on a police car that could sweep the city centre and other areas, such as near Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, where restrictions are in place.
This would replace traditional parking enforcement methods, such as chalking tires, which downtown merchants say is open to abuse that keeps cars on the street longer than allowed.
“The biggest goal is to make sure that parking is fairly distributed for merchants and customers,” said police chief Andy McGrogan in an interview with the News. “We don’t see there being a huge parking problem downtown, but we continue to hear (complaints) that people are wiping off chalk or moving their cars” to stay beyond the two-hour limit.
“We’re not expecting any change to the amount of fine revenue we collect,” he said.
The new system will be rolled out in 2020, after the equipment arrives, with a public information campaign.
Both McGrogan and city treasury manager Garth Glover, who presented the amendment to buy the system on Monday, is to modernize how local cops control parking.
The system is widely used in Alberta, including smaller municipalities, and other provinces, and may also be employed in other areas of the city where there are parking restrictions.
Near the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, tensions have often arisen between residents, who hold residential passes, and motorists looking to avoid metered street parking or paying for spots in lots.
The city’s development and infrastructure division has tentatively scheduled a parking review in the area once the effect on traffic flow and parking after of major renovations is known.
New items
The reader is among three minor changes to the 2020 city capital budget that were approved on Monday night as part of a budget update.
The electric distribution department will have a bucket truck ahead of schedule, as a $450,000 unit that was scheduled as a purchase in 2022 will be acquired next year.
Glover said the utility department has spent $117,400 since 2017 renting similar equipment, and is needed due to height requirements and the fact the vehicle is insulated from electrical charge.
“Think rainy or snowy conditions with lines down and the power needs to get back on,” he told council.
As well, the Medicine Hat Fire Service will acquire a new digital training system, for $46,000, that will negate the need for them to travel to Brooks to participate in training where live fires are staged.
The cost will be paid equally from reserve funding and grants.
The cost of the bucket truck will come from the fleet purchasing reserve.
