Banff continues to experiment with angle parking in a bid to ease the tourist town’s parking crunch.
Banff council has decided to scrap angle parking on the 100 block of Beaver Street, but plans to begin a trial on Bow Avenue this year to create 33 additional stalls by replacing parallel parking with angle parking, which is only possible by turning the narrow riverside road into a one-way street.
The $5,000 trial would create 45-degree angle parking on the west side of the road by the river, with one-way traffic flow heading south towards the intersection with Buffalo Street.
“I do like the idea of a trial, particularly one-way. We could do a trial in 2014 and budget the project for 2015 based on the results of the trial,” said Mayor Karen Sorensen during capital budget discussions on Monday (Jan. 20).
“At the end of the day, it’s a bit frustrating because we don’t have a lot of options. The other option is an $18 million cement parkade.”
Banff is a town of about 8,200 residents for most of the year, but during summer and on busy long weekends, the daily population swells to up to 25,000 people, forcing RVs, buses and cars to jockey for limited parking spaces
Studies show Banff is currently 125 parking stalls shy of what’s needed as many vehicles circle the town and cause gridlock while looking for spaces. The shortfall is expected to grow to 360 stalls in 10 years and 600 spots in 20 years.
Councillor Chip Olver was the only councillor to vote against the trial on Bow Avenue.
She said Banff is currently not meeting standards there for riparian zone setbacks between vehicles and rivers, and called for an environmental assessment to go along with the project.
“We’re already not doing what’s recommended between vehicle use and river, and this is further,” she said.
Some councillors also raised concerns about the potential to make traffic flow in the downtown worse with a one-way street, particularly because traffic signals at the busy intersection of Bear Street and Buffalo Street are not being installed until 2015.
Coun. Corrie DiManno said it makes sense to wait until the traffic lights are installed to get the full picture.
“My concern is we’re making gains in the parking area, but it might negatively impact traffic flow,” she said. “Can’t we trial this in 2015 when we get lights?”
Coun. Stavros Karlos said Bow Avenue doesn’t have high traffic volumes.
“I don’t think it will cause a backup,” he said. “This is currently being used as visitor parking, this just changes the layout.”
Council also decided to scrap angle parking on the 100 block of Beaver Street in the face of strong opposition from residents during last summer’s trial, as well as the fact it would cost $353,000 to make it a permanent solution for just 10 additional stalls.
The change back to parallel parking will likely happen in spring when crews can paint new lines on the road.
“I didn’t support it previously and I won’t change my mind now,” said Coun. Brian Standish. “A 10 stall gain is not a good use of taxpayers’ money.”
Marino DiManno, who was one of the key people opposed to angle parking on Beaver Street and argued it was unsafe and unsightly, welcomed council’s decision.
“I am pleased, not just that they reversed their decision, but that they listened,” he said. “It meant a lot that they acknowledged all of our work.”
An $18.4 million intercept parkade was also presented in the capital budget for 2017-2018, but most of council did not have an appetite to spend that kind of money. It would amount to between a two and three per cent tax increase.
Preliminary pricing put construction of a 240-stall parkade at $70,000 per stall. Traffic experts have examined various potential locations, and the top two locations seem to be Wolf Street by Mineral Springs Hospital and on Beaver Street.
Concerns were also raised that a discussion on paid parking had not yet happened, which, if approved, would result in revenues that could be used for transportation-related projects such as a parkade.
“This has to be linked with the paid parking discussion. If paid parking is approved, this is the type of project revenues could be reallocated for,” said Coun. Grant Canning. “This is a very big spend.”
Coun. Brian Standish and Karlos argued to keep an intercept parkade – a key recommendation of the 2012 transportation master plan to fix the parking crunch – on the books for 2017-2018.
Karlos said that would allow time for consultation and debate in the community. “We have at least two parking studies that correctly identify a parking shortfall in the hundreds,” he said.
Council also approved several other lower budget projects to create more parking spaces.
They plan to formalize 39 parallel parking stalls on the east side of Spray Avenue this year and plan to formalize 14 stalls on Big Horn Street in 2016, with a price tag of $10,000 and $144,000 respectively.
In addition, 11 RV parking stalls at the parking lot on Buffalo Street by Central Park will be relocated to Elk Street. There will be parallel car parking on Buffalo Street and inside the parking lot, plus perpendicular car parking inside the lot on the south side. The cost is $5,000 and will create an additional 17 stalls.
Council also voted to create 27 additional spots for a cost of $261,000 by creating perpendicular parking facing the elementary school fence, with one-way traffic on Moose Street. This project is on the books for 2016.
