Visitors to Fort Edmonton Park, the Valley Zoo and Muttart Conservatory may have to pay for parking next year as part of a pilot program to use parking revenue to sustain those attractions.
A proposal for a series of changes that in total could mean a potential boost of $5.4 million in revenue was presented to city council’s urban planning committee on Tuesday. The pilot project will be conducted in 2027, though no start date has been determined as of yet.
“It’s either user fees or property taxes,” said Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz, who requested the report in December. “We’re trying to mitigate huge property tax increases with rising expenditures and costs.
“If you go down to the Riverhawks game, parking is $10 there. If you go to Sylvan Lake this summer, parking is $50 to park at the beach (per day). If you go to Vancouver and visit Stanley Park it’s $4.75 an hour. People know that there’s charges for parking.
“There’s more and more vehicles on the road. We need to make sure parking is available when they need it. We want to make sure there’s turnover. When something’s free, you see too many people in parking zones not moving their cars.”
Other major cities, including Calgary and Vancouver, already charge parking fees for amenities and return that revenue to the facility in use. The plan will include a low-income option. The pilot project is part of a series of proposals in the report, which also noted the city has reduced parking enforcement officers to eight from 30. Chief bylaw officer David Jones told committee bylaw has seen a 42 per cent increase in calls requesting more parking enforcement and the city is looking to sign a $1 million in contract to put more officers on the ground.
On top of that, the city is looking to expand its automated parking enforcement, which administration says could bring in at least $14 million in revenue when fully implemented. That part of the plan will go to council for final approval.
Janz is also asking the city to look into a system similar to Calgary where the longer it takes someone to pay a parking ticket, the higher the fine is, with a 10-day, 30-day and more-than-30 day window. That report will be due back later in the year.
Administration said 30 per cent of Edmonton’s road users come from out of the city.
“Edmontonians, with the current tax supported system, are subsidizing parking for folks who do not live in the city,” said safe mobility director Jessica Lamarre.
Currently the city oversees more than 2,700 on-street paid stalls and nearly 3,300 off-street stalls.
A proposal to cease a 15-minute free parking program was turned down 4-0 by the committee. The program had already been rolled back from a 30-minute free parking window which was put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city slashed it to 15 minutes in the last budget.
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