Along with several other changes to a proposed parking bylaw, Smithers councillors voted Aug. 23 to raise the price of a downtown parking space from $5,500 to $9,500.
That price only applies to owners who have property in the downtown commercial core or along Highway 16 but do not have enough space for on-site parking.
To meet the required number of parking spaces for their property, those owners can choose to buy parking in a nearby lot, or to buy the $9,500 spaces from the Town of Smithers.
Mayor Cress Farrow said the old price of $5,500 was just too low for the town to sustain given how much it costs to pave a space and install curbs and storm drains.
The $9,500 price is still lower than the estimated cost to install a parking space.
Council has been working for several months to pass a new parking bylaw that will give downtown Smithers shoppers more on-street parking and free up some downtown parking lots for other uses.
Among the other changes voted in on Aug. 23, councillors decided to lower the number of parking spaces that downtown retail businesses owners have to provide. They must now build one space for every 60 square metres of floor area in the building.
Outside the downtown core and Highway 16 corridor, most houses, townhouses, mobile homes and apartments will require two parking spaces per dwelling.
Each secondary suite in a house will also need to have its own parking space.
In most parts of Smithers, any restaurant or bar with a liquor licence will need to have one space for every ten seats.
Councillors also decided that any new parking space in the downtown or Highway 16 commercial areas has to be paved—previously, only lots with four or more spaces had to be paved.
Any buildings that existed before the new bylaw is passed are exempt from the new rules unless the owners start using the building in a way that requires more parking or loading spaces.
Mayor Farrow stressed that the new bylaw law is still not fixed in stone.
“We want people to come and talk to us about it—it’s not hard and fast,” he said. “We feel we’ve put some good work into this, but people can always come in and offer new information and then we can make better decisions.”
Property owners can voice their concerns about the new parking rules at the bylaw’s final reading, which will most likely happen at the first council meeting in October.
One of the outstanding problems that council is aware of is a potential conflict over winter parking.
A few downtown buildings have second-storey apartments whose residents prefer to use street parking, he said.
That creates a problem because the town usually hires a snowplow to clear those streets from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m.
Council will consider whether the nearest parking lot would be too far away for those residents, he said, adding that he is confident the town will find a way to resolve the issue.