City wants safer, more attractive surface parking lots; recommends charging per-stall licensing fees

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This article was published 18/06/2018 (2137 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new report at Winnipeg city hall suggests offering downtown parking lot owners discounts on a proposed new licensing fee as an incentive to improve the safety and appearance of their properties.

The report is in response to a proposal made by Mayor Brian Bowman shortly after taking office almost four years ago, making good on a promise he made earlier on the campaign trail.

This report was originally due in mid-2015, but the administration received repeated extensions and only now is offering a suggestion, requiring all surface parking lots be licensed regardless of location, with accompanying minimum landscaping and safety standards.

According to the administrative report to Monday’s meeting of the property and development committee, parking lot owners who comply with all the standards would get a discount on the licence fee; owners who fail to comply would pay the full rate.

The administration proposal is similar to a provision contained in an alternative city budget released Tuesday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives — Manitoba, which said city hall could raise $34 million annually if it imposed a $1-per-day-per-stall fee on surface parking lots.

The alternative budget said the intent of a parking lot fee would be to raise needed revenue, as well as put pressure on property owners to convert the land from surface parking.

Unlike that proposal, the administrative report doesn’t suggest a fee amount or any other standards, suggesting they would be established only if councillors on the committee approve the approach and authorize consultation with surface-lot owners.

A spokesman for Bowman said the mayor is pleased the report is finally seeing the light of day.

“While obviously later than desired, the administrative report makes a clear recommendation for committee members and Mayor Bowman looks forward to further discussion and engagement on what’s proposed,” Jeremy Davis, Bowman’s press secretary, said in an email to the Free Press, adding the mayor believes improving downtown surface parking lots will make the area more attractive and will “help to further grow Winnipeg’s downtown population.”

The report suggests fees based on a per-stall basis applied only to lots operated as a business and accessible to the public.

The report states downtown Winnipeg has more surface-parking space than any other major city in Canada, with some 150 lots taking up 20 per cent of downtown area.

While the city’s downtown zoning bylaw regulates development standards for new surface lots, the report says most of the existing lots predate those regulations; those owners have non-conforming rights and do not have to comply.

Bowman singled out the unkempt appearance of many of the lots when he ran for the mayoralty in 2014. He also proposed taxing downtown parking lots at higher rates than adjoining properties as a way to spur development.

But setting differential tax rates is not something the city can do without changes to provincial legislation. However, the administration proposal would accomplish the same objective, using the licensing approach.

However, the administrative report said a parking-lot fee could discourage other-use development if owners are required to first make significant investments to maintain them as parking facilities in the short term.

The administrative proposal was praised Tuesday by Stefano Grande, executive director of the Downtown Business Improvement Zone, who called it a sound approach to a problem that has long-plagued the area.

He said he is pleased the proposal would apply city-wide and the administration is calling for consultation with property owners before anything is put in place.

However, Grande said while the prospect of licensing fees would act as a “stick,” he wants to see some form of “carrot” that would encourage lot owners to develop their properties with the objective of reducing the number of surface parking lots in the downtown.

The report says landscaping and safety standards can be imposed on all surface lots if council requires operators to purchase business licences.

“The business licensing option has been identified by the public service as the best way to advance higher landscaping and safety standards for surface parking lot businesses within the existing legislative framework under which the city operates,” the report states.

“Properly framed, a business licensing regime can supersede zoning rules. Upon its implementation, and subject to a grace period, no commercial parking lot would be entitled to operate without a licence.”

The report says relevant standards could include:

• Accessible and van accessible stalls at the prescribed ratio.

• Safe and accessible route to the sidewalk or building entrance.

• Paving and internal drainage.

• Sufficient aisle and parking stall sizes with proper markings.

• Safety-oriented lighting requirements.

• Street-edge landscaping.

• Fencing to prevent cars from encroaching onto the sidewalk.

• Customer-friendly parking payment options.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca