BANFF – The green light has been given for revenue generated from paid parking to be spent on Banff’s overall vision for an integrated transportation system in the national park townsite.
A new reserve policy sets out what types of projects the net revenues from paid parking – estimated to be about $600,000 this year and $1.1 million a year in subsequent years – should be spent on.
The draft policy, which was before the governance and finance committee for review on Monday (March 22), now needs to go to a council meeting for it to be officially put in place.
“It’s important to note this is a council policy and it can be reopened and adjusted at any time, if in the future, a council would like to use those funds for something else,” said Chris Hughes, the Town’s director of corporate services.
Beyond funds needed to implement the new paid parking system, money will be used for roadway and parking improvements, transit enhancements, enhanced snow clearing, and cycling or other transportation initiatives.
Councillor Peter Poole was successful in his attempt to get transportation de-carbonization initiatives added to the list of things that net paid parking revenues could be spent on.
“In my mind, one of our goals for transit is handling congestion and another goal we hope to integrate is our energy transition strategy given the climate emergency,” he said.
“This is an opportunity to integrate our climate change thinking into how we’re managing the public space of roads and parking, and then our operations of transit.”
Councillor Grant Canning pitched the idea of a free bus pass on local Roam routes for residents, which he said would amount to about a $250,000 revenue loss to the Bow Valley Regional Transit Services Commission.
He said he wants to see the transit system become free in the next five to 10 years to boost ridership.
“We know that’s not going to happen right now, simply because we need additional revenue streams to do that; it can’t be just based upon the backs of the taxpayers,” he said. “But this is a good place to start, perhaps it’s a first phase of going in that direction.”
Mayor Karen Sorensen said spending decisions on initiatives – which will be made during the annual budget process, or a motion of council other times in the year – will depend on revenue from visitor paid parking.
“I am pretty comfortable that council will always have a strong say on what money is spent on,” she said. “Council can offer up suggestions every single year.”
The Town of Banff will introduce visitor-pay parking in the downtown core in May.
The paid parking program aims to increase the availability of short-term parking spaces in the downtown, while providing an incentive for people to use free nine-hour parking at the train station, on Bow Avenue, and in the Bear Street parkade.
The rate for parking in the downtown paid zone will be $3 per hour, but drops to $2 per hour next winter.
Visitors will be able to download a parking app before they arrive and use their mobile phones to pay when they park, or using a pay station on the street for coin or card payment. Licence plate reader technology eliminates the need to display a dashboard pass or receipt.
In addition, the Town is introducing a residential parking permit system to keep parking on neighbouring residential streets close to the downtown core available for residents.
The permit system will allow all registered residents to park for free for up to three hours in the paid downtown zone. Any resident with a registered vehicle can also park on the restricted residential streets.
