New downtown parking rules planned

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This article was published 08/07/2015 (3774 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

New downtown evening parking rules could come into effect in October, designed to free up more on-street parking spaces.

A civic committee Tuesday endorsed a plan that will see free evening parking continue in the downtown but only for two hours, from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday, then motorists will be required to move their vehicles or be ticketed.

There will be no time restrictions after 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. the next day, when daytime parking rules go into effect. Parking tickets will be issued to motorists who exceed the two-hour limit.

The new rules need to be approved by council.

Coun. Jeff Browaty, chairman of the alternate services delivery committee, said the objective is to discourage motorists from tying up on-street parking spaces for hours at a time.

“Because our downtown is doing so well, it’s becoming problematic finding parking on streets on evenings and weekends,” Browaty (North Kildonan) said, explaining the need for the new rules.

Currently, on-street evening parking is free after 5:30 p.m.

Downtown business owners complained parking spots were being taken up by downtown employees and people taking in events at the MTS Centre.

While the Winnipeg Parking Authority (WPA) initially proposed a $2-per-hour fee for evening parking, Browaty said he was concerned that will discourage people from going downtown. The WPA brought that proposal to city hall in January, but it never made it to council because of too much opposition, and it was referred back to the committee for further review.

Browaty said he thinks these proposed parking rules will win support among the majority of councillors.

“I think this is right thing to do at this point,” Browaty said. “We need to create that (parking) turnover downtown… It’s not going to be pleasant for everybody, but it’s in the best interest of our downtown and the best interest of our city.”

Limiting free parking to a two-hour period will free up parking spaces for restaurant operators, Browaty said, achieving the same goal without penalizing people going downtown.

“People parking on the street in the evenings are parking for hours and hours on end, and people coming for dinner, to shop, in our downtown are finding they can’t find (parking) spaces on the street,” Browaty said.

‘Because our downtown is doing so well, it’s becoming problematic finding parking on streets on evenings and weekends’

— Coun. Jeff Browaty, chairman of the alternate services delivery committee

Randy Topolniski, the WPA’s chief operating officer, said there will be a grace period when the new rules go into effect.

Motorists will get one warning but after that they will be ticketed.

The new rules will apply to most of downtown — from Kennedy to Garry streets, and from Portage Avenue to Broadway, including a two-block area extending north to Ellice Avenue directly opposite the MTS Centre.

Topolniski said the WPA will monitor the impact from the new rules to determine if they’re meeting the objective of freeing up more on-street parking.

Originally, the WPA wanted to charge for evening parking in a zone adjacent to the MTS Centre, known as the SHED area. The new rules will apply to the SHED and the rest of downtown.

Topolniski said he believes Browaty’s alternative solution will have the desired results of freeing up more on-street parking spaces.

“I’m certain with the enforcement we have out there and the ability to monitor, we’ll get the compliance and the (on-street parking) turnover,” Topolniski said.

Topolniski said the affected area has 900 on-street parking spaces. He said there are 22,000 off-street parking spaces within a 10-minute walk of the MTS Centre.

Browaty said the new rules mean downtown employees and people taking in events at the MTS Centre will have to use a parkade to avoid getting a ticket, but he said that was one of the objectives.

“Downtown restaurants and bars have a really good business before and after a Jets game, but in a lot of cases, during the game it’s a ghost town because no one can find (on-street) parking in the area,” Browaty said. “Under this new scenario, if you’re attending an event at the MTS Centre, chances are you have to get off the street (after two hours).”

Browaty conceded the new rules are a subsidy for downtown restaurant operators, but he said it’s a worthwhile measure to encourage people to visit downtown.

“Event nights are great, but what about the other nights of the year?” Browaty said. “I think this is an opportunity to get that (parking) turnover on event nights as well as not discouraging people from not going downtown on other nights.”

Topolniski said WPA staff employ licence-plate reading technology, determining which vehicles exceed the two-hour time limit and those will be ticketed.

The WPA will launch a public awareness campaign before the new rules go into effect, Topolniski said.

“The general public is going to understand there is going to be significant change in the downtown,” he said.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca