Vancouver approves plan for flat $2/hr parking in Chinatown

Vancouver city council has approved a plan to cut the cost of parking in parts of the historic Chinatown to aid in revitalizing the area.

The motion, passed unanimously Wednesday, will price parking at $2 per hour across the neighbourhood.

“We’re trying to bring people into the neighbourhood and even within six small blocks, we have two time periods and six different rates for parking and it’s very confusing,” Jordan Eng said, Vancouver Chinatown BIA’s president. “It’s all really all part of a bigger process to restore the neighbourhood”

Currently, depending on the city block, curbside parking rates in Chinatown range from $1 to $5 per hour from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and  $1 to $3 per hour from 6 p.m to 10 p.m.

“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 said.

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“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.”

If council moves ahead with lowering the costs to a flat $2 per hour, it would roughly cost the city around $355,000 in revenue within the city’s 2023 operating budget and will be incorporated into 2024 revenue projections.

“The whole goal is to bring people back into the neighbourhood. We’re working on cleaning up the graffiti, we’re getting ready for summer,” Eng said.

Another alternative would see street parking capped at $1 per hour in the mornings, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., an idea that would cost the city about $215,000 in revenue.

“This is part of a bigger process to restore the neighbourhood. We have festivals happening, we got the Dragon boat festival in June, we have the opening of the Chinese-Canadian Museum and we have the Chinatown festival in July.”

The city announced an action plan in January to uplift the Chinatown community, with around $2.2 million in funds.

That plan focuses heavily on street cleaning, with money set aside to help address rampant graffiti in the community.

City council is expected to vote on the potential parking costs changes Wednesday afternoon.

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— With files from Simon Little