The following article appeared in the June 26 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
The city will forge ahead with a one-year pilot program offering two-hours of free on-street parking downtown.
Council passed the motion last night at a special meeting dedicated solely to the parking issue.
There has been discussion for years over whether the hundreds of meters that line Guelph’s downtown streets act as a psychological barrier to consumers and investors.
Several councillors, including Leanne Piper, said they don’t believe that’s the case, but to end the argument, they voted in favour of the pilot program.
“This entire concept of free-parking downtown being the bag of magic beans has been a noose hanging around this council, the previous council and every council for the last few terms,” Piper said.
“We have to lay it to rest once and for all so we can definitively say the parking issue is not the only solution to downtown revitalization.
“Until we get that off the table, we can’t find other creative incentives to move forward.”
City officials will now work with the Downtown Board of Management to develop the pilot program and its performance measures. Those could include the monitoring of any changes in downtown investment, tracking of business revenues and polling to gauge public perception.
The city hopes to launch the pilot this summer and there will be a status report after six months.
The parking program was presented at city hall last Monday, but council shut it down after a hired consultant suggested the program would best be left to lots and parkades. Barbara Leibel told council that similar programs focused on on-street parking have created a “nightmare of enforcement” in other municipalities.
City officials believe the pilot program can be enforced without increasing costs. In a report provided to council, staff estimate the program could cost $686,500 in lost meter revenue, $3,000 for signage and $5,000 for marketing and public education.
Support for the program wasn’t unanimous. Coun. Gloria Kovach said it seems misguided because it rewards those who park close to businesses, not those who use the lots and parkades.
“It’s inconceivable when I look at my colleagues to think they would support that kind of policy — that if you walk further, you pay more,” she told council. “I just think it’s the wrong move. It’s a negative move.”
Mark Rodford, chair of the downtown board, said council’s decision is a huge step forward for the core. He said this should be one part of a multi-pronged strategy to address parking supply and downtown revitalization.
“I think it’s fantastic,” said Rodford, who owns the Cornerstone cafe. “I think it’s something that the community has been asking for for decades . . . I think we’re being responsible to the needs and wants of the people in our city.”
Coun. Ian Findlay said this is something Guelph needs to do in order to successfully promote the core.
“This is a marketing matter,” he told council. “We’re not going to encourage people to come downtown if we continue to have that reviled image of a parking meter that beats them over the head.”
Coun. Maggie Laidlaw said she voted in favour of the program because it will show that parking isn’t the answer.
Laidlaw said she would like to see Guelph’s core adopt a more “European style,” with narrower streets, more bistros and pedestrian walkways.
She said free on-street parking won’t do anything, especially since it’s difficult to find a vacant metered spot downtown.
“I would suggest that if this is a marketing strategy, it could be called false advertising,” the councillor said.