Penticton council pushing forward with eliminating free parking in many busy areas of town

Photo: Chelsea Powrie

Free parking on Main Street in Penticton could be going the way of the dodo bird.

Penticton council is moving forward with plans for a large expansion to paid street parking in the city, heading into the public consultation phase. 

At a meeting Tuesday night, council heard the implementation of meters and paid parking passes in high-traffic areas like downtown, Skaha Park, Lakeshore Drive, the South Okanagan Event Centre and resident-only parking areas could net the city a projected $840,000 per year. 

Council voted unanimously in favour of moving the project forward.

"We’ve got to think like a big city, and big cities don’t give free parking downtown," said Coun. Julius Bloomfield. 

"We're losing the opportunity of revenue by not charging for parking," said Coun. Judy Sentes, but she added that she was worried the $840,000 number was too optimistic. 

Development services director Blake Laven said that number is based on the number of spaces and anticipated usage levels, plus experience with the existing meters downtown.

"Right now I think people generally go toward those free spaces first and if they're forced out into the metered areas then they tend to pay, and if those free spaces don't exist in convenient areas, everybody that comes downtown will have to pay as opposed to the less than 40 per cent that do now," Laven said. 

The push for paid parking comes as the city faces a $3.9 million revenue shortfall in 2020 due to COVID-19 effects, and an expected equal or greater loss for 2021. 

The public is now invited to give feedback at shapeyourcitypenticton.ca until Aug. 5.