North Bay council is making it easier for people to shop downtown by making it cheaper to park.
Council is eliminating the overnight parking fees during the winter at the parking garage which currently stands at $5 a night.
It’s also providing one-hour free parking on city streets downtown as long as the parking is at pay and display sites and stubs are obtained.
The one-hour free parking cannot be provided through parking metres because they don’t have the programming software to accommodate the change.
In addition, although two-hour free parking is available at the parking garage, a person taking advantage of the one-hour free parking on city streets cannot then drive to the parking garage and get a further two hours of free parking on the same day.
The software will recognize the attempt and reject the request for a second attempt at free parking during the same day.
The third change involves allowing free parking on weekdays in downtown lots and streets beginning at 4:30pm.
Currently paid parking is from 8:00am to 6:00pm but the proposed change would take the paid parking period from 8:00am to 4:30pm.
Allowing the free parking to begin at 4:30pm will cost the city about $35,000 in lost revenue annually while it loses another $67,000 a year by creating a one-hour free parking rate on downtown city streets.
There is also the lost fine revenue the city would not collect in either of these instances when someone gets a parking ticket.
Eliminating the overnight parking fee of $5 a night over the winter at the parking garage results in a $3,000 annual loss in revenue.
There is also a provision to cut parking permits for residents living in the Downtown Improvement Area (DIA) by 50 percent but the loss here is negligible given that not too many people with vehicles live in the DIA boundary right now.
Councillor Mike Anthony has sat on the DIA board as a council rep since 2003 and he says time after time the complaint from the public has been parking.
Anthony believes making the parking rate changes “is a worthwhile investment”.
“Yes, there will be some lost revenue but I believe it’s a worthwhile experiment to see what it does for the downtown,” he said.
“I hope people see it as one more way we’re trying to help an area, just like how we’re trying to help the Ferris area and any part of the city that has challenges. I hope they see this as a way to try and boost things in the downtown and revitalize the heart of the city.”
Councillor Dave Mendicino echoed Anthony’s comments.
“Parking was the number one barrier to get people to shop downtown,” Mendicino said.
The goal of the new rates is not only to get more people to shop downtown but also to see if more people decide to move downtown.
Mendicino was told by staff the city will track this movement.
Meanwhile, Anthony says although the parking changes are not a trial change, council can always re-visit the measure in the future to see how well it’s working.
If there are no glitches, the changes can take effect on February 1st.
