Staff urge downtown developments devoid of parking, paid street spots

Visitors to Downtown Guelph may find themselves paying for on-street parking in the years to come. And if they opt for a parkade spot, they may have to compete with residents of new developments where builders aren’t required to accommodate cars.

City council is set to weigh in on those proposals and more next month.

Establishing a fee for on-street parking spots and creating a program that allows developers to provide cash to the city rather than provide parking spaces for residents are among the key recommendations from city staff heading to council for consideration as part of an update to the downtown parking master plan.

“Downtown Guelph is in a moment of transformation,” states a staff report. “With intentional and responsible planning, the infrastructure the city builds today will create the foundation for prosperity, sustainability, and well-being for half a century or longer.”

The proposed parking plan update will be presented to council’s committee of the whole meeting on Sept. 6.

In terms of implementing paid on-street parking, part of the goal is to shift financial responsibility away from property taxpayers as a whole and on to the users. The staff plan calls for the idea to be evaluated starting in 2028.

“Monetizing the parking spaces is an important lever in achieving financial sustainability in the operation and moving it to a fully user fee-funded model,” it states, noting parking is a private service that benefits individuals. 

There are several perceived benefits to this approach, say staff, along with a requirement for caution.

On the upside, it moves parking operations “closer to financial self-sufficiency,” encourages longer-term parkers to use off-street options, and can “assist in moving users away from the construction areas during the infrastructure renewal projects downtown.”

Key among the Identified cautionary considerations is that public consultation shows residents don’t want paid on-street parking in the downtown. Nearly three-quarters of survey respondents are very or somewhat supportive of continuing complimentary parking funded by property taxpayers for at least the next five years.

In addition, the seasonal patio program cuts into the number of available on-street spots, taking about 17 per cent of spaces out of the running, though the report doesn’t indicate whether it’s expected to continue at that rate given increased fees for businesses and program changes recently approved by council for future years.

Charging for parking also makes it more difficult to spur spending downtown, staff note. With “recessionary headwinds, increasing interest rates and looming possible bankruptcies” in the restaurant industry, “a change in consumer behaviour due to the introduction of paid parking on-street may impact business performance.”

Allowing downtown developers to build with fewer or no parking spaces for residents would encourage new housing, staff say. 

“The recommendation to create such a program would allow residential developers to build downtown where providing required parking may be restrictive while at the same time not placing additional burden on property taxpayers, employees, or transient users with higher fees to fund future capital projects,” the report states. “These funds would be dedicated capital funds used to grow the capacity of the parking system in the future.”

Despite the proposed parking deduction for developers, city officials hope to increase the overall supply of downtown parking spaces by 700 leading up to 2051. The city’s population is mandated to grow to 208,000 by then, up from the current 145,000.

Currently, the city operates three downtown parkades, five surface parking lots and a permit program on select city streets downtown. There are also 600 on-street parking spaces downtown. 

A fourth parkade, below the new central library, is expected to come onstream in 2026.

There is no fee for on-street parking Monday to Saturday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., with a two-hour limit, once per day, the city’s website shows. Outside those hours, parking is free.

With the exception of during special events, parkade spots are free on Sunday, $3 for all of Saturday, and free outside the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Any direction or decision made during the committee of the whole meeting must be formally ratified by council before it becomes official. Ratification of matters from the Sept. 6 committee meeting will likely be considered by council on Sept. 26.