Parking in Waterloo Region

[Markster]

The City of Waterloo continues to work on the establishment of their Parking Enterprise.
There's a report going to City Council in the Monday meeting packet.

Staff recommend:

1. That Waterloo City Council approve IPPW2016-057
   
2. That proceeds from the sale of any City parking lands be deposited into the Parking Reserve to fund the development of new parking infrastructure and/or maintenance of existing parking infrastructure.
   
3. That Waterloo City Council direct staff to continue to use parking pricing as a Transportation Demand Management tool to foster active transportation and multiple occupant vehicular travel.
   
4. That Council confirm their support of the recommendation of the UpTown Waterloo Parking Strategy identifying the following locations as potential locations for additional future municipal parking supply to facilitate development in the UpTown;
   
   1. Single level parking deck over the Dupont Lot
      
   2. Parking garage on the Waterloo Town Square South Lot
      
   3. Parking garage north of Erb and east of King Street
      
   4. Parking garage on the City Hall parking Lot
      
   5. Single level parking deck over the Waterloo Town Square North Lot
      
5. That beginning in 2018, staff undertake annual parking utilization studies to monitor LRT ridership uptake and its impact on demand for public parking facilities, and at two year intervals commencing in 2023.
   
6. That Waterloo City Council approve $15,000 in funding from the Parking Reserve in 2018 to conduct an updated parking utilization study.
   
7. That Waterloo City Council direct staff to explore partnerships and other opportunities to create new public parking facilities.
   
8. That Transportation Services and Finance provide Council with a financial model for City parking facilities including a growth rate to establish fees and charges for 2018, after the completion of the comprehensive Zoning By-law Review.
   
   1. That the financial model be created to show parking operating and capital expenses funded entirely by user fees.
      
9. That Waterloo City Council freeze parking rates for 2017.
   
10. That Waterloo City Council direct staff to report back with updated financial forecasting data annually when setting parking fees and charges.
    

[Viewfromthe42]

So part of the province's plans for the future includes provincially removing all parking minimums, starting with areas having/getting rapid transit:

http://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/t...nd-pricier

Knowing this, does it make sense for Kitchener's new zoning to move forward with parking minimums in downtown areas already greater than non-downtown minimums set out in neighbouring Waterloo? Should any local council move to get in harmony with this in any parts of the city in advance of it becoming reality?

[panamaniac]

So part of the province's plans for the future includes provincially removing all parking minimums, starting with areas having/getting rapid transit:

http://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/t...nd-pricier

Knowing this, does it make sense for Kitchener's new zoning to move forward with parking minimums in downtown areas already greater than non-downtown minimums set out in neighbouring Waterloo? Should any local council move to get in harmony with this in any parts of the city in advance of it becoming reality?

"Greater" or lower?

[Viewfromthe42]

Downtown Kitchener's new zoning proposes 0.9 spots/unit, and PARTS proposes 0.95. Many Waterloo developments are going in at 0.8 or lower in Northdale.

[panamaniac]

Downtown Kitchener's new zoning proposes 0.9 spots/unit, and PARTS proposes 0.95. Many Waterloo developments are going in at 0.8 or lower in Northdale.

Is Northdale the Waterloo norm?  On it's face, I don't see any commonality between Northdale and Downtown.

[Viewfromthe42]

Northdale is aiming to become a new urbanized area, home to multiple demographics, amenities, and density.

[tomh009]

Northdale is aiming to become a new urbanized area, home to multiple demographics, amenities, and density.

Maybe aiming to become, yes.  But in reality today's demographics are vastly different in Northdale and in downtown Kitchener.  Students walking to campus are far less likely to need or want parking than families and single professionals living downtown.

What is the actual zoning minimum for parking (not a variance that was allowed) for Northdale?

[Markster]

What is the actual zoning minimum for parking (not a variance that was allowed) for Northdale?

http://www.waterloo.ca/en/contentresourc...12-070.pdf

0.25 spaces per bedroom. A compromise of the "workaround" of 5-bedroom units, to allow smaller units with the same parking requirement.

[Pheidippides]

I really wish they would crack down on vehicles parked illegally along bus routes (and bike lanes). My commute, and everyone else on the full bus, the other night was ridiculously delayed because of illegally parked vehicles. It was particularly irritating because there are lots of areas for the vehicles to park nearby such as driveways, laneways, or side streets.
Streets like Queen between Joesph and Courtland should have zero tolerance for this type of behaviour. There are no parking and no stopping signs and yet buses (at least 18 per hour outbound by my count) and cyclists regularly need to navigate around these inconsiderate obstacles.

Sorry for the rant.

[KevinL]

Don't apologize, that should absolutely not be tolerated. I hope your driver, or the driver of one of the other buses inconvenienced, let their dispatch know of the obstruction and had them arrange with the appropriate authorities for it to be towed.

[danbrotherston]

As a rule I call in any vehicle illegally parked that isn't a work vehicle with workers actively working in the Boulevard where they are parked that impedes my path regardless of my mode of transportation.

[Coke6pk]

Don't apologize, that should absolutely not be tolerated. I hope your driver, or the driver of one of the other buses inconvenienced, let their dispatch know of the obstruction and had them arrange with the appropriate authorities for it to be towed.

As a former by-law officer, this was fairly normal to have it passed on, and vehicles were ticketed and sometimes towed. 

Problem lies in the fact a couple of officers can't cover 100% of the city at one time, and need to rely on "tips".  If you have a cell phone, call the city's contact centre from the bus and let them know!

Coke

[Canard]

Problem lies in the fact a couple of officers can't cover 100% of the city at one time, and need to rely on "tips".  If you have a cell phone, call the city's contact centre from the bus and let them know!

You can use the Pingstreet app, too - although I find it's quite buggy and often times won't let me upload a photo. I find actually using the phone to call in usually gets the quickest response.

[Pheidippides]

Problem lies in the fact a couple of officers can't cover 100% of the city at one time, and need to rely on "tips".  If you have a cell phone, call the city's contact centre from the bus and let them know!

I've thought about doing that, but when it is a delivery truck (UPS, FedEx, CanPar, Canada Post, etc.) or armoured car what are the chances an over-worked by-law officer is going to get there before it moves along? It doesn't take much to set of a cascade across the network that can get a long time to clear.

Before the Ion construction began there was a delivery truck (Dicom I think) that had a 5pm pick-up Monday to Friday at the HSBC at King and William in Waterloo and would take the entire WB lane and a bit of the sidewalk on William right in front of Marbles instead of using the HSBC parking lot, or the parking spots on King, or the little 'L' part of King across the street from Marbles that goes around the parkette, or the laneway beside Marbles. Made it tricky to pass no matter the mode. I was tempted to call then because it was at least predictable.

[clasher]

Delivery truck companies usually just pay any of the tickets they get, it's just part of their costs of business.