Vancouver city council is set to consider slashing some street parking fees as it works to revitalize the city’s beleaguered historic Chinatown.
Street parking rates in the neighbourhood currently range from $1 per hour to $5 per hour during the day, and from $1 to $ 3 per hour in the evenings.
“Through engagement with stakeholders in Chinatown, businesses expressed a desire for cheaper parking and less variability in parking meter fees from block to block,” a report from the city’s general manager of engineering services headed to city council next week states.
“Although some businesses wanted free parking during certain times of day, others recognized that free parking would result in a lack of turnover and less parking availability for customers.”
The staff report recommends setting all on-street parking meter fees at $2 per hour between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. as a pilot project that would run to the end of 2024.
The report estimates that fee structure would cost the city about $355,000 in revenue.
The report also proposes several alternative fee structures that could also encourage visitors to the area.
One alternative would see street parking capped at $1 per hour in the mornings, from 9 a.m. to noon, an idea that would cost the city about $215,000 in revenue.
A third option would involve reducing existing street parking rates by $1 from 9 a.m. to noon at parking meters where the current price exceeds $3.
That option is projected to cost the city about $280,000.
A fourth proposal would make parking free after 4 p.m., an initiative estimated to cost the city $785,000 by the end of 2024.
The report notes that parking meter fees are adjusted annually on a block-by-block basis, and that meter fees on more than half the blocks in Chinatown are currently set at $2 per hour or less.
Staff analysis found none of the options were likely to improve the availability of parking in the area, and that the flat $2 fee structure and free evening parking concept would be attractive to daytime and evening customers.
It also highlighted the possibility that other neighbourhoods could seek to have the lower fees applied to their parking fees, and states that applying the listed options city-wide could come at an annual cost of between $7.2 million and $18.6 million.
The proposal comes after council approved a $2.2 million plan to revitalize the neighbourhood, which has been plagued by vandalism, drug use and street disorder.
That plan focuses heavily on street cleaning, with money set aside to help address rampant graffiti in the community.