City of Nanaimo to add free parking in Bastion Parkade during Commercial Street construction
The free parking will be offered during the first phase of the Design Commercial project which started in September and will continue until May of next year. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm
Rain or shine, or during construction, Commercial Street in Nanaimo’s downtown core is still open for business, and the City of Nanaimo is now offering additional free parking in hopes of getting more people downtown.
Nanaimo City Council voted Monday to allocate two levels of the Bastion Street Parkade, located at 236 Bastion St across from the Old City Station Pub for free two-hour- parking. The additional 60 stalls will complement the free two-hour on-street parking regulations that were introduced in October of this year.
The additional free parking is the city’s effort to encourage new and returning shoppers to visit the downtown area to support local businesses and services. The free parking will be offered during the first phase of the Design Commercial project which started in September and will continue until May of next year.
After the city first announced the free on-street parking in October, Councillor Hilary Eastmure moved that city staff make a report on options to provide free two-hour parking within City-owned parkades at a city council meeting on October 21.
She said the initial streetside paid parking spots that were changed to free two-hour spots were not enough.
She made the motion for city staff to report back with options to expand the free parking before the holiday shopping season rolls around.
That report was given to council on November 18. The report offered 3 options for council to choose from.
Option one would allocate two levels (approximately 60 stalls) of the Bastion Street Parkade as time-limit parking. This option would come with financial implications of a loss of monthly revenue of approximately $5,000.
Option two would allocate 30 spaces in the lower level of the Port of Nanaimo Centre Parkade located at 101 Gordon St at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. According to the report, the loss in revenue from the change is harder to determine due to the variability of parking use within the parkade.
The report notes that parking at the Port of Nanaimo Centre Parkade—also known as the Vancouver Island Conference Centre Parkade—is a sensitive issue as there is a potential for conflict as the parkade is connected to the conference centre and Port Theatre. It also houses overflow parking for nearby hotels and pre-paid monthly pass holders.
The third option is to maintain the current streetside parking and not expand free parking.
At the Monday council meeting, Eastmure moved a motion for option one saying it is a good way to draw more people downtown and that it will be easier to tell people where to find the free parking.
“I did bring the motion forward originally, and I appreciate seeing some options to provide free parking in the parkades to help draw more folks downtown as we deal with the commercial street redevelopment project,” Eastmure said.
Councillor Ben Geselbracht was uncertain, saying that the Bastion Street Parkade is a less favoured parking location in the downtown. But Geselbracht said he is willing to support the motion to support the downtown business.
“I had dinner on Commercial Street this evening and asked the owner there what's it been like with the construction–how it has been impacted, and the first thing he said, there has been an impact,” Geselbracht said. “The second word out of his mouth was parking and I think there's going to be an improvement down there.”
Councillor Erin Hemmens noted having free parking downtown is something she would like to see continue for future holiday shopping seasons.
“I would be curious for next year having council explore free parking in the downtown core for the month of December,” Hemmens said. “I'm just putting that on the table as we now have a mechanism to do it. I think it would be a really interesting piece to drive business downtown.”
Councillor Ian Thorpe said he would not be able to support the motion to allocate the 60 parking stalls of the Bastion Street Parkade.
“I certainly have sympathy with our downtown merchants during this construction time,” Thorpe said. “But for me, the benefits of this proposed motion simply–the benefits don't outweigh the time, effort and expense that would be involved to the city.”
Thorpe points out that the Port of Nanaimo Centre Parkade already has 20 free limited-time parking spots that are not always fully utilized. He also points out that while paid parking is enforced 24/7 at the Port of Nanaimo Centre Parkade, for the Bastion Street Parkade, parking is already free after 5 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends.
“To me, the issue is not about parking, whether it's free or not,” he said. “It's just making people know that there is available parking close to the downtown, and I think there is, and I would rather see some money spent publicizing that fact.”
Currently, at the city-owned parkades downtown, the first two hours of parking costs $0.75 with each additional hour costing $1.
“I don't think having to pay 75 cents for two hours of parking is going to deter people from coming downtown. If they can find a parking spot, I think most will pay that without any hesitation,” Thorpe said. “So to me, I just don't think this solution is worth pursuing, considering the extent of the perceived problem.”
The motion to allocate two levels of approximately 60 stalls of the Bastion Street Parkade as free 2-hour parking passed with Councillor Thorpe opposed.
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.