City councillors approve boosts in parking rates

$17.50 a day for Yates Street parkade, $16 for View, Broughton, Centennial and Johnson street parkades

It’s going to cost more to park all day in Victoria parkades.

In the hope of freeing up more spaces for shoppers and other short-term parkers, city councillors agreed Thursday to increases in the daily maximum parkade rates.

The rates will increase to $16 from $14 at parkades on View, Broughton, Centennial and Johnson streets, and to $17.50 from $16 at the Yates Street parkade.

A staff report notes 30 per cent of parkade spaces are filled by users on daily rates. Another 25 per cent are rented out monthly, leaving 45 per cent for shortterm parking.

Monthly parking rates were increased last May — the first hike in a decade — and staff plan to implement another 10 per cent increase on June 1.

That will bring the monthly rate to $220 at the View, Broughton and Yates parkades, to $185 at the Johnson parkade and to $165 at Centennial Square.

City staff are in the process of hiring a consultant to help develop a “sustainable mobility strategy” to help define long term management of the city’s transportation network.

Mayor Lisa Helps said such a strategy “can’t come soon enough.”

“The short-term projection from local experts is that we’re in a crunch period and we’re short about 400 spots right now,” Helps said.

“Is that still the same number for the long term? We don’t know.”

Coun. Chris Coleman said he supported the increases in short-term rates, but that at some point the city is going to have to look at building some sort of parkade.

“I think there may be an opportunity by the arena, in that next to the curling rink there’s a square of 150 stalls where you could put a three-storey parkade and have parking on the roof.

“Then you go from 150 to probably 500 stalls,” Coleman said.

Coleman said there might be another option in partnership with the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority and possibly room for a partnership somewhere near Capital Iron.

City staff say there are several initiatives underway to increase parking opportunities, including:

• A pilot program allowing on-street commuter permits as an alternative to all-day parking in parkades in specific areas.

• Car share in all parkades.

• Allowing 20-minute parking for smallbusiness loading/unloading zones.

• Taxis allowed to stand at six designated fire hydrants.