Residents say parking ‘plugs’ streets
Vehicles left all day piling up in neighbourhoods
Edmonton is facing a growing problem from vehicles clogging street parking in residential neighbourhoods near downtown.
“People don’t have places to park themselves. The streets are plugged,” Randy Shuttleworth, president of the Queen Mary Park Community League, said Thursday.
“In some places, parking is over 100 per cent, which means they double park. It’s overcapacity, so people start parking illegally … It’s not going away.”
One factor is workers and students who leave their cars all day for free, according to a city report.
This includes staff at K Division RCMP headquarters near 111th Avenue and 109th Street, the report says.
There are also concerns with customer cars packing the curbs near shopping districts and developments given variances allowing less parking than usual.
“If we’re not in front of these parking issues, they will just get worse,” Shuttleworth said. “As we move more into transit-oriented development, maybe that will alleviate it, but that’s in the long term.”
City officials have spent the last year discussing the issue with people in Queen Mary Park, Central McDougall, Oliver, Westmount, Glenora, McCauley and Boyle Street.
The number of parking spaces varies widely, from roughly one for every 10 people in Oliver to more than one per person in Glenora.
But not everyone feels the situation is dire. Kajsa Duke, who lives on 125th Street south of Stony Plain Road, said it’s reasonable if people can park within a block of home. “People visiting businesses parking in front of my house affect me, but I think that’s part of living near a pedestrian friendly street,” she said.
“It might take a bit of time, but we just need to get used to it.”
Duke, Westmount Community League civics director, stressed she was expressing a personal opinion.
She was surprised that part of 125th Street was turned into resident-only parking, saying people don’t own the road in front of them.
“In many cases there’s ample parking in the back, on alleys or their own property … It’s not a gated condo-type community.”
The city will spend the next year working on parking options with neighbourhoods and Business Revitalization Zones. This could include switching to angle stalls where possible, reviewing time-restricted zones and changing the residential permit program.
New licence-plate enforcement technology could lead to temporary fees during special events and allow residents to be exempt from time restrictions.
Coun. Scott McKeen, who represents downtown, said it’s “kind of an insult” to communities used as parking lots by employees at institutions such as the RCMP, the Royal Alexandra Hospital and the city.
This makes it hard to find room for visitors or to unload groceries, he said.
At the same time, McKeen recognizes the challenges faced by shops in districts that don’t have enough parking.
“We have to find a balance where residential needs and business needs in the area are looked after,” he said.
“But institutional? I’m sorry, if you work around downtown you’re going to have to pay.” gkent@edmontonjournal.com