Committee supports parking lot study

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This article was published 25/06/2018 (2889 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg city council committee endorsed a proposal Monday for a department study into licensing of stand-alone, surface parking lots.

Councillors on the standing policy committee on property and development, heritage and downtown development gave the green light to the administration to develop licensing regulations and bring them back to the committee for consideration.

“The report will include what design features you’re looking for, how the licensing issue would work, and costing of enforcement,” said committee chariman Coun. John Orlikow.

The administration had proposed licensing as a way to prompt parking lot owners to improve the safety and appearance of their properties.

John Kiernan, director of planning, property and development, told the committee about 20 per cent of the downtown area consists of stand-alone parking lots.

Many of them are eyesores, he said, but the lots existed before the city approved a downtown zoning bylaw that imposed landscaping standards.

Kiernan said introducing licensing is the only way to regulate the lots downtown, as well as those in all other parts of the city.

The approval gives city staff permission to conduct consultation with parking lot owners to determine a fee structure and landscaping standards.

Council would still have to formally approve any changes.

The report is in response to a proposal made by Mayor Brian Bowman shortly after taking office almost four years ago and part of his 2014 mayoral campaign — promising regulations to spiff up and improve the security of downtown surface parking lots.

However, the administration was given repeated extensions and now is offering only a suggestion: license all surface parking lots, whether downtown or elsewhere, with accompanying minimum landscaping and safety standards.

According to the administration, parking lot owners that comply with all the standards would get a discount on the licence fee; owners whose lots fail to comply would pay the full rate.

The fee would be based on a per-stall basis and would apply only to those surface lots operated as a business and accessible to the public.

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