City council gave administration the go-ahead Monday night on a proposed plan aimed at creating hundreds of parking stalls downtown.
The spots would be limited to special event parking, but are aimed at alleviating the parking troubles that often crop up at events like Canada Day, Rock’n August and the St. Albert Children’s Festival.
The new plan would create hundreds of new parking stalls for those events, including spots in the provincial building, spaces at Grandin mall and the Northern Alberta Business Incubator (NABI).
Mayor Nolan Crouse, who along with council raised major concerns at the last attempt administration made to solve the issue in April, said he was pleased with this new report and the options it could provide.
Crouse said he believes the major change comes from administration’s tours of the area during major events to see exactly what some of the problems were.
“When all of those walkthroughs got done, it highlighted the new recommendations and this was something I was really happy about.”
Coun. Lorie Garritty said he was initially worried the report wouldn’t solve the issues, but was impressed with the idea administration came up with.
“After seeing the report that went into it and the research, it was pretty extensive,” he said. “It looks like it is going to be some workable solutions that come out of there.”
The report identified roughly 80 spots that could be used at the provincial building for some of the events as well as approximately 100 at Grandin mall, another 44 at NABI and 30 at Father Jan School.
All of the proposed stalls would be opened up at a minimal cost to the city for the small handful of major events.
After discussing the issue with the chamber of commerce, city administration recommended not making the parking available for the weekly farmers’ market because the event has successfully integrated the park and ride service.
Crouse said if the chamber is happy with that approach, there is no reason to change it.
“The chamber has chosen that and it has become very popular, so the answer is yes and we will stick with it for now.”
The city could also open up more than 500 spots in Lions Park, Mission Park and Millennium Park for major events.
Crouse said the idea is that with all these possibilities identified, the city will be able to work with major event organizers to open up the space when it is needed.
The city is also planning to improve signage in the downtown, bring in bike racks and continue using park and ride locations to address the problem.
Crouse said he wants the downtown to be inviting when major events are hosted there, encouraging people to come back in subsequent years.
“It should be splashed all over, we welcome you downtown, please park here,” he said. “It shouldn’t say no parking, no parking, no parking, no parking.”
Implementing the parking strategy, which includes continuing to provide park and ride to major events is expected to cost $43,200 next year and $31,000 on an ongoing basis.
