The fall of 2019 is being targeted by city staff as the date to start paid on-street parking in Downtown Guelph.
The timing is meant to coincide with the opening of the Wilson Street parkade. That target date has not yet been approved by City Council.
Council approved the implementation of a return to on-street paid parking in 2015.
A report going to Guelph City Council’s committee of the whole on March 5 outlines the process being undertaken to initiate the on-street parking.
Community and stakeholder engagement is a part of that process, which includes such elements as how much to charge, what technology to use, what kind of grace period vehicle owners can get if their time runs out.
Those things are all to be determined, reads the Parking Technology Selection and Implementation Metrics Study done for the city by the consulting firm CIMA+ Canada Inc.
The report says once technologies have been narrowed down, demonstrations will be available for the public prior to selecting which technology is most suitable.
Parking has an important, if indirect, influence on the economic health of downtown and a detailed, data driven view of the performance of the parking system could provide insight into changes in the key indicators of the health of the downtown economy,” says the far-reaching report.
Whatever technology is selected – pay-by-phone, self-pay stations, licence plate readers and smart metres are just some of the technologies being considered – it will be funded through the city’s 2019 budget.
Council originally budgeted $700,000 for the purchase of downtown parking metres in the 2017 budget, but that was put on hold until the timing was confirmed.
Projected revenue timing and costs will come before council as part of the Downtown Parking Master Plan Update in May.
