Rob: After going on a bit of a pandemic hold, it looks like paid parking is back on the table for Canmore in 2021.

Tanya: We’re going to see some more information at the budget cycle, but in the meantime they have been spending this year working on aspects of that plan, including a resident permit system. What also happened this year with COVID is that we saw an inundation in several other areas other than our typical downtown core for visitors trying to access outdoor amenities. Specifically, we’re talking the Cougar Creek Trailhead and Quarry Lake Park. For Quarry Lake, a paid parking system is already on the table for discussion, but other locations like Cougar Creek…that’s some new information for the community.

Rob: I think a couple of other things have emerged since the proposal originally came forward and was going to be implemented in 2020. We had Main Street closed to vehicles for much of the summer and that seemed to go pretty well. The paid parking strategy had Main Street as a paid metered system. Would they still implement that on Main Street if they go forward with pedestrian only area again, and are we even doing that again?

Tanya: That’s going to be part of the work that has to get done into putting this program together and bringing it to council for approval. There’s also different systems for paid parking. The town is looking at one where they hire a third party contractor to put in the infrastructure and set the system up, then our bylaw officers patrol around and determine whether people should be ticketed. Are we staffing our bylaw department enough to take on this additional work? There was a lot of time spent by bylaw up at the Quarry this year. I think this goes beyond just paid parking and is going to involve a discussion around bylaws staffing as well.

Rob: Another consideration – we can look to Banff right now and their draft parking management strategy which now includes like a three-hour window of time per day where locals can park in the paid spots for free. Is that something that Canmore locals are going to look at and say, “Hey, if Banff is doing that, maybe we should consider doing that sort of thing too?”

Tanya: The fact that our two communities are at different stages of exploring this idea means we can learn a lot from each other. The resident parking permit system is going to be key. We do not want parking to spill over into residential neighborhoods for people trying to get out of paying for parking, but then the question is – what’s a reasonable accommodation for residents to access their downtown services as well?

Filed under: Canmore, Mountain Insider, Paid Parking