SASKATOON – A new report slated to be received by Saskatoon city council’s transportation committee lays out a roadmap for the future of parking in the city’s downtown. The Comprehensive Downtown Parking Strategy looks at adding more parking spaces, including new parkades, in the decades ahead.
Toronto-based BA Group and Saskatoon’s CIMA+ prepared the report as a result of Saskatoon’s City Centre Plan, which will be in introduced in phases over the next 20 to 25 years.
Saskatoon currently has 20,634 parking spaces, according to the report.
“It’s where it is and how it’s being managed that’s causing some parking concerns to rise up,” said Alan Wallace, Saskatoon’s director of planning and development.
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Going forward, the parking strategy identifies a need for as many as 1300 new public parking spaces in the core and south core areas of the city. Another 600 new spaces may be needed for TCU Place and up to 1900 spaces could be required in three or more new parkades, according to the report.
Changes could be implemented in the short term and over a course of decades.
“The consultant is suggesting that we look at forming an authority, or a utility out of parking. Essentially, the city needs to manage more of the parking downtown,” Wallace said.
Consultants also recommend putting all parking revenue in a fund for developing future public parking and increasing the on-street parking time limit to three hours for most of the downtown.
“It’s trying to find a balance. We want to ensure there is still turnover, but we also want to ensure that when people come downtown, they’re able to do more than one thing,” said Brent Penner, executive director of the Saskatoon Downtown Business Improvement District.
The report will go before the city’s transportation committee on Monday. Council will consider possible changes at a meeting in late 2016.
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