Enforcement of parking rules begins Monday

Drivers will have to put money in meters, display residential permits as of Monday

The meter on free parking in many Saskatoon neighbourhoods is about to expire.

At a brief special meeting on Friday afternoon, city council voted 10-1 in favour of reinstating paid on-street parking as well as the residential permit and disabled parking programs, effective Monday.

The city will honour 2019-20 residential permit and disabled parking hologram stickers until a system of issuing new ones — which typically requires a trip to city hall — can be devised.

Director of community standards Jo-anne Richter said a solution for people who do not have a 2019-20 residential parking permit is in the works, as is a system for cancelling “inadvertent” tickets.

“We will be using some discretion with our enforcement processes,” Richter said, referring to the residential program used to limit parking in busy neighbourhoods such as Nutana and Caswell Hill.

Coun. Sarina Gersher was the only member of city council to vote against reinstating the programs on May 25; she reiterated her view that sticking with the administration’s June 1 recommendation made more sense.

“I would have erred on the side of more notice,” Gersher said.

Council’s decision is likely to please Brent Penner, executive director of the Downtown Business Improvement District (BID), who submitted a letter endorsing the proposal.

Penner wrote that he has received calls from a variety of businesses asking if the date could be moved up, because parking turnover is increasingly important as businesses reopen.

Penner also noted that BID employees will be disinfecting pay stations as part of their regular duties. The city is encouraging people to use the pay parking mobile phone application if possible.

“People will have to take their own measures to do what they can to ensure they’re safe,” Richter told a council committee earlier this week, referring to the ubiquitous pay stations.

City officials also pledged to take another look at issues that arose after the University of Saskatchewan closed its Place Riel terminal to buses, leading to temporary stops on College Drive.

The university’s decision has previously been criticized by bus riders, who say it caused “chaos.”

Crystal Lawrence, who described herself as a health care worker, said in a letter to council that the situation on College Drive, combined with the reinstatement of twohour limits on nearby streets, will be a “nightmare.”

“There needs to be a compromise,” Lawrence wrote in the letter, which proposes waiting to enforce residential parking permits until Saskatoon Transit can return to Place Riel.

Terry Schmidt, the city’s general manager of transportation and construction, said the city will “definitely” look at ways to make changes that improve service.

The decision to suspend the programs is thought to have cost the city upwards of $1.5 million, based on revenues collected over the same period last year.