St. John's parking report suggests higher rates, new garage
Downtown St. John's lacks enough parking to accommodate most of the developments the city expects to see completed over the next 15 years, a new report concludes.
The draft report on a new parking plan, prepared for the City of St. John's and the Downtown Development Commission, suggests that the city consider higher parking meter fees, as well as start planning for a new downtown garage.
The report suggests raising the cost of metered parking to $1.25 or $1.50 per hour, up from the current rate of $1 per hour. Council has also been advised to consider raising rates at city-owned lots.
The report recommends measures to promote pedestrian traffic, cycling and public transit in the downtown core, and to limit the number of cars that can come downtown.
Coun. Shannie Duff said those recommendations may meet with resistance.
"[The plan] would discourage use of private car and encourage people to use public transit and car pooling and other ways of getting to work," she said.
"I expect that will engender some discussion, let me put it that way. However, it is very much in line with what's happening in other areas," she told CBC News on Thursday.
Council and the DDC were briefed on the recommendations on Monday.
The report notes that city council is expecting a lengthy list of proposed developments, from a hotel on Bell Street and renovations of long-dormant spaces along Water and Duckworth streets to a variety of condominium conversions, to increase the demand for scarce parking.
In all, the city expects the projects would require an additional 3,280 parking spaces. There are currently just over 800 on-street parking spaces in the entire downtown area.
The report said because council restricts developers to a four-storey limit because of heritage guidelines, adding off-street parking to a development is usually not financially feasible.
The city says that a proposed parking garage west of Prescott Street would cost about $13 million.
Duff said council will also look at the idea of opening private parking lots to the public in the evenings, and opening residential spaces to business traffic during the day.