Vancouver City councillors are set to vote on a new parking program that includes fees for some new vehicles and required overnight parking permits on all city streets.
The controversial Climate Emergency Parking Program was recommended by municipal staff last week and will be debated at city hall on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“In order to do things like make every neighbourhood walkable, where people can get to their basic daily needs without a car, we need to fund these improvements,” said Peter McCartney, climate campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.
McCartney signed up to speak to the merits of the program at the Tuesday meeting.
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If approved, the Climate Emergency Parking Program would take effect in early 2022 and require overnight parking permits for every residential street in the city at a cost of $45 per year, or $5 for low-income families.
A fee of $3 for overnight visitors to the city would be charged, and there would be no changes for daytime permitting or parking fees.
“I’m in favour of this program because free parking is an illusion,” McCartney explained.
“There’s no such thing, and we all pay for it when people get free access to public space to put their personal belongings when they’re not using them.”
The Climate Emergency Parking Program would also include an annual “pollution charge” for anyone buying a gas vehicle in a model that’s 2023 or later, and crosses a certain threshold of climate-polluting carbon emissions.
There would be no fee for electric, hybrid, low-polluting and most economy vehicles, but new “high-polluting” vehicles such as large SUVs, full-size pickup trucks, and most gas-powered luxury sports vehicles, would come with a tab of $1,000 annually.
All previously-owned cars or models predating 2023 would be exempt from the fees, as would vehicles adapted for wheelchairs.
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Vancouver’s Climate Emergency Action Pan aims to reduce the city’s carbon footprint by 50 per cent by 2030. According to municipal staff, transportation, accounts for 39 per cent of those emissions.
Revenue collected from the new parking regime — up to $68 million over the first four years — would support other initiatives of the climate action plan.
Critics of the program, however, have said it fails to accommodate residents who require certain kinds of vehicles in order to their jobs and penalizes renters who can’t access parking garages.
Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung, who has been a vocal critic of the proposed parking plan, said it “disregards overwhelming opposition from residents,” and gets a “fail” on affordability, equity and climate.
“I would say it’s sort of a war on the working class because this will only target people that do not have access to off-street parking,” she explained.
Renters, multi-general homes with more than one driver, and those with roommates will be charged, she added, while single family homeowners with driveways, and condo owners with parking garages will not.
Many of the areas where overnight parking permits would be introduced, she added, have high concentrations of diverse residents, working class residents, and folks in the trades who require large trucks for work.
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Voting on the program will take place Wednesday.
More than 30 people are on the list to discuss the program, including representatives from Canadian Physicians for the Environment, the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems, For Our Kids Vancouver, and Kind Cafe and Eatery.
The staff report estimates the program will cost $1.7 million to launch, and about $1 million a year to administer.