(Image from Northern Bruce Peninsula website.)
A series of recommendations to the paid parking system in Northern Bruce Peninsula have been brought to council to potentially implement for next year.
During a special council meeting on Oct. 25, Municipal Law Enforcement Officer Carol Hopkins brought forward a year-end report on parking in various parts of the peninsula, each with varying concerns and recommendations to address them.
Throughout 2021, the by-law department collected concerns raised about the parking situation in Northern Bruce Peninsula.
Concerns were raised about roads including at North Shore Rd. to Barrow Bay and the Channel Rd. turnaround, regarding parked vehicles and blocked driveways. A recommendation to address this issue, suggested putting up signs to identify there would be no parking in these areas.
With the paid parking set up in Lion’s Head, it has been found visitors are parking on back streets to avoid any parking fees. Residents have raised concerns about the vehicles parked in these areas all day, leaving behind excess garbage, and the vehicles not parking fully off the travel portion of the road, affecting traffic. As a solution, it was recommended Byron Street should have postings of no parking on either side, from Edgewood to the end of Byron Street.
A request from the Tobermory Chamber was brought forward, recommending the Tobermory paid parking, which came into effect in 2017, extend the 15-minute parking limit in the Community Centre parking lot to 30-minutes, and put up signage to indicate no oversized vehicles in the Community Centre parking area. It was recommended, however, paid parking remain status quo, but put up signs advising against oversized vehicle parking in the Community Centre parking area.
This follows after a previous council meeting in May, when the Tobermory and District Chamber submitted a recommendation to adjust the 15-minute parking to 30-minutes, and relocate them to the centre row of the parking lot. Currently there are 20 15-minute parking spaces in the lot with signs put up, and the by-law department feels this 15-minute time frame is an ample amount for visitors to the centre to get whatever business they need done. Leading to the recommendation to keep the status quo of the 15-minute parking limit.
When paid parking was introduced in Tobermory, Big Tub Road has been analyzed each year at the end of the parking season, with recommendations for adjustments following. For the 2021 season, the parking area on the south side of Big Tub Road was shortened to encompass the south side of 245 Big Tub Road, so to allow about 25 vehicles to park outside the parking area.
A presentation, however, was brought to council back in May, to request the parking on Big Tub Road be moved to 197 on the south side, virtually removing the parking away from the current 245, and give residents the ability to enter and exit their own driveways , and remove congestion.
In response, four options were presented to council, either leave the parking on Big Tub Road as the status quo, remove the parking on the south side of the road to permit only a designated 15 vehicle parking area, expand the parking area on both sides of the road in front of 255/256 Big Tub Road to create a defined parking lot for about 20 vehicles, and leave the parking as status quo, while setting up ParkPass on Big Tub Road and purchase some signs.
In considering the four options, it was recommended council move ahead with the third option and widen the road in front of 255/256 Big Tub Road to create a defined parking lot and turnaround point. Parking would also be removed from both sides of the road from Highway 6 to the parking lot. The total cost, including reconfiguring the parking lot, hiring a parking attendant, and signage would come to over $100,000, which could be covered through the paid parking revenues.
The report by Hopkins, found the first full season of paid parking in Lion’s Head had few complaints, however points were raised on inadequate signage and non-user-friendly parking meters. On top of these concerns, there were several large RV’s seen in the area, and no designated parking lot for them.
There were requests in Lion’s Head to have all-day parking so to allow visitors, who wanted to spend the day out, not have to move their vehicles every three-hours. Businesses also voiced their observations on a lack of 15-minute parking spaces for quick pick-up and drop-off spots.
In response, it was recommended council stick to the status quo for the paid parking program in Lion’s Head.
In looking at parking limitations and places for people to park their RV’s, it was suggested to council the oversized vehicles be directed to park at the Friendship Club lot, with the parking machine from McCurdy be moved to the club, collecting the current rate of $5 per hour, to a max of $30 a day.
In order to implement all-day parking, it was recommended it be allowed on John Street and Mill Street from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., mirroring the same fees for the proposed parking machine at the Friendship Club lot.
Two additional 15-minute parking spots were also recommended on 10 Webster Street near the Royal Bank, and another four spread out on Main Street.
After the ParkPass system was launched for the McCurdy parking lot, the report found it to be a great success, and therefore a recommendation was brought forward to continue and have a parking attendant present during peak times in the 2022 season.
Hopkins says the discussions held during the council meeting were more of a starting off point, to start talks with council about how paid parking has been operating in Northern Bruce Peninsula and offer recommendations for moving forward.
“We want to do it right and have that right balance, between tourism sustainability and impacting our residents. That is why we take a very concerted effort to make sure that everybody has their say regarding paid parking. It is something that impacts the entire municipality, either through tourism impacts or business impacts and that is why we want to make sure we take a slow effort with this,” says Hopkins.
Hopkins says on Nov. 1, a survey will be launched on the Let’s Talk NBP website for residents to voice their thoughts on paid parking in the municipality.
“So what we are looking at right now, is an interactive map in which point people will be able to come on and actually look at the recommendations and make comments right on the map itself,” says Hopkins.
The responses to the online survey will then be brought back to council on Dec. 13, where residents will get another chance to voice their thoughts directly to council.
Hopkins notes, depending on the conversations held after the public meeting, they will present their draft by-law to council, with the aim to implement any new measures by May 2022.
