Meaford Council has approved a pilot paid parking program, for Memorial Park only.
During a meeting last week, council considered implementing this project in Memorial Park, David Johnson Park, Meaford Harbour, Fred Raper Park, Legion Park, Beautiful Joe Park, St. Vincent Park, Irish Mountain Lookout, and Leith Beach in 2021, but decided against it, thinking that a test run would be better suited to a single area.
The pilot would see the program operate between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week, costing $10 daily.
According to a previous council report, the implementation of this program, for one year would be relatively inexpensive for the municipality, costing over $5,800, over half the budget set for this program.
The 2021 budget expected to collect $70,000 in revenue from this program, that would have been the case however if council decided to move ahead with setting paid parking at all of the locations.
Meaford Treasurer Darcy Chapman notes however, that restricting the program to Memorial Park would reduce the total revenue coming in to $25,000, leaving a $45,000 hole in the 2021 budget.
During the meeting, Meaford Mayor Barb Clumpus asked Chapman if it was possible to establish a single payment zone for all of the surrounding parking in the area. Chapman notes that while it is possible, the setting up of one zone for paid parking would not tell staff where people are parking when they purchase their pass, only that they were buying.
“The reason why this wasn’t done, is there wouldn’t be any way to get any usable data out of this pilot project other than knowing the total number of people that would have paid,” says Chapman. “If you don’t have each parking area as a separate zone, then you won’t know how many people used or paid for parking in those zones.”
Meaford Deputy Mayor Shirley Keaveney notes she is cautious about the program but given the current Covid vaccination process, council should look ahead to the summer when Keaveney says a lot of people will have received their doses.
“The majority of folks will have their vaccinations and they will be traveling and we will be able to provide what we can to support our business community by encouraging traffic to return to Meaford,” says Keaveney. “I am not opposed to a trial for Memorial, but I would like to see us concentrate on that one park this year.”
The pilot was passed with six to one in favour with Counc. Steven Bartley not voting and voicing his favour of reverting back to staffs previous recommendation of implementing the pilot project in three locations of Meaford Harbour, David Johnson Park and Memorial Park. While noting he would be in favour of having the program at Memorial Park, he called into question how many by-law officers would be needed to monitor the pilot.
“If we were to pursue the idea of all of our parks being done, it isn’t just patrolling the park, it is also the fairly large streets around each of these parks and I just can;t see how it would be possible. When you go all the way from Christie Beach to Leith Beach, its got to be 35 miles. How many by-law officers would you need to adequately police that?”
Clerk and Director of Community Services for the Municipality Matt Smith addressed this question saying he believes they can do an adequate job with the staff they currently have, with the summer staff having recently joined the team last week.
“We obviously won’t be available 24/7 to do this, but the program as deigned is limited to 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the paid parking.”
With the program starting in Memorial Park, residents and non-resident will be able to pick up their season pass at the municipal office, needing their driver’s licence and a copy of their vehicle ownership, and costing $100 for non-residents.
