Banff businesses won’t face any increases in the controversial parking cash-in-lieu fee, but politicians have decided the fee will be subject to inflation every year.
On Monday (Sept. 24), council adopted its updated parking policy, but on a 5 to 2 vote decided to keep the cash-in-lieu rate at $21,000 a parking stall instead of $30,000.
Councillor Leslie Taylor had argued the cash-in-lieu rate should go to $30,000 per stall, saying she had a problem with the fact $21,000 does not come close to covering the costs to actually create parking.
“Neither rate of $21,000 or $30,000 pays for the costs of actually providing parking stalls, so taxpayers are already being asked to contribute to this,” she said.
“When you compare cash-in-lieu side-by-side with the actual cost of providing parking stalls, the percentage of the cost paid by the general taxpayers as opposed to developers has been steadily increasing.”
New development must provide appropriate levels of parking to serve additional development, but as an alternative to providing required parking spaces, cash-in-lieu may be paid at a rate of $21,000 per stall.
The rate was $13,000 when the parking policy was first introduced in 1990, but in 1999 the fee jumped to $21,000 and it has remained unchanged since that time.
By comparison, administration estimates the actual cost of building a surface lot parking stall is in the $38,000 range, while stalls in a parkade are about $60,000 to $70,000.
Mayor Karen Sorensen said she could not justify increasing the fee, arguing she repeatedly hears the cash-in-lieu fee can be a barrier to development, particularly for small businesses.
“Finances are a huge impact and I think an increase would have a huge impact on local businesses. We already hear that $21,000 is a deterring factor to redevelopment,” she said.
“To me, there is a benefit to this community when redevelopment happens in this community, and with new businesses I see that as a benefit to taxpayers.”
Coun. Stavros Karlos, a small business owner, was the only councillor to agree with Taylor.
“Our vacancy rate suggests the small business reinvestment does not have a problem,” he said.
In the last six years, cash-in-lieu payments have varied annually from zero to $105,000. Banff’s parking reserve is currently in the red to the tune of about $119,000.
Karlos said solving Banff’s parking and transportation problems is also critical to the success of the downtown core.
He said implementing the transportation master plan, when finalized, will come with price tags.
“I believe some of those things may cost us money and I want to know we’re going to be able to pay for them,” he said.
Coun. Grant Canning said any increase in fees is definitely a concern, pointing to the fact the developer of a new building proposed for the Timber’s restaurant site is required to pay more than $500,000 in parking fees.
“Fees are already at a very substantial level in Banff and increasing them, I think, will stunt redevelopment,” he said.
Coun. Brian Standish agreed.
“Cash-in-lieu payment is already a burden and by hiking it to $30,000 is unsustainable,” he said.
While the rate won’t change, council did agree that an annual inflationary clause be inserted into Banff’s parking policy, which aims to reflect changing infrastructure costs in Alberta.
The Town of Banff will use the Alberta Non-residential Building Construction Price Index, which is an average of Calgary and Edmonton non-residential construction prices.
In addition, council has decided to review the parking fees once a year in conjunction with the review of other municipal fees.
