Depending on who you ask, allowing new developments to go ahead with fewer parking stalls is either the way of the future or a huge headache.
The limited parking at a new Kelowna development has one resident questioning Kelowna’s parking policy, but the city and the business behind the construction believe the right balance is being struck.
Sandra Gault is fed up with the reduced parking and lack of visitor stalls at her Kelowna condo building, Sole KLO.
“There is delayed deliveries, people in arguments, people blocking the garage, (and) people parked on the sidewalk,” Gault said.
The apartment owner said the problems have spilled into the parking lot of a neighouring building, which has put up a sign specifically banning parking from Sole.
The city allowed Sole KLO’s developer to build 17 fewer parking spots than would have otherwise been required because the company provided car sharing on-site and contributed to a city fund for parkade expansion.
Gault doesn’t believe the city’s cash in lieu of parking program is working.
“How are you supposed to create good neighourhoods if you are constantly in arguments with your neighbours?” Gault asked.
However, the developer, Edgecombe Builders Group, believes the parking at Sole KLO is adequate as student residents can easily walk across the street to Okanagan college or use the co-op car.
“There are 6,000 students across the street, and for that reason we believe that the initiative by the city to create more density in urban centres and thus require less dependency on cars makes a ton of sense in this location,” Edgecombe Builders Group president Kevin Edgecombe said.
City of Kelowna senior urban planner Adam Cseke defends the city’s approach to parking requirement’s in new developments.
Cseke said Kelowna tries to avoid requiring too much parking as it could make housing more expensive.
“(And oversupply of parking) is generally a waste of resources … it really makes affordable housing extremely difficult so we try to estimate our parking rules based on the current demand,” Cseke said.
However, that’s doesn’t help Gault, who has had enough of the parking headaches and is looking to sell, but has not found a buyer.
“The comment that my realtor gets all the time is no parking,” she said.
Still, the developer believes there is a market for buildings like Sole KLO with fewer parking stalls, and that the market with only grow going forward.
“As society grows, we are going to become less dependent on cars. This location is the epitome of that, in my opinion,” Edgecombe said.
Since the Sole KLO development was approved, Cseke said the city has changed some of its rules around parking for new developments.
The cash in lieu of parking program now requires developers to pay $33,000 into a city fund for every required stall they don’t include in their project. That’s up from $7,500 per stall at the time of the Sole KLO.
The city has also reduced the number of stalls required for developments.
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