Parking analysis and recommendations for changes part of tonight's Council session

Business owners and those who struggle to find a parking spot in the city's downtown core may want to take in tonight's Prince Rupert City Council session, as the city's council member receive a report that offers up an analysis of the current situation found around the City.

The topic, one of a number of areas of note that will be examined from the report,  has been a long running concern for not only a few council members, but for many business owners and those residents who frequent their establishments, particularly in the Third Avenue shopping area which is a frequent location for complaints.

The report to be received by Council tonight has been put together by iPlan Limited, the city's contract planner currently working on the city's Official Community Plan.

Council directed staff in December to identify areas in both the Draft OCP and Draft Zoning Bylaw that require more information or that the Council members would like amended. 

Additionally, the City Staff directed iPlan to conduct an analysis on the off-street parking standards of the City of Prince Rupert. 

The report generated by Chris Buchan, assistant planner with iPlan covers a wide spectrum of the parking theme and includes a comparison with six municipalities in Northern British Columbia. 

Towards the findings, the report has proposed new parking standards that will include: 

1) Revisions to the off-street parking standards;
2) Requirement for paved off-street parking spaces;
3) A new payment-in-lieu policy;
4) Electric Vehicle parking standard; 
5) Bike infrastructure/parking standards.

Areas of proposed change include Retail, Schools, Assembly Halls, Residential area and Automotive service locations.

You can review the report from the City's Agenda page here, it starts on page 33 of the night's listings. 

Tonight serves as the introduction for the report, should Council members find it to their liking, they may move it forward towards a Public Hearing at some point in the future, or send it back to staff to address any concerns that they may find from the review.

For more notes related to this evenings City Council Session see our Council Preview here, notes on this evening's work will be posted to to our Council Archive page here.

A review of past Council Discussion themes can be explored from our archive page here.