Visitors face new waterfront parking fees in Cobourg, Ont.

New waterfront parking fees and changes in Cobourg, Ont., are catching some visitors off-guard.

Beginning Victoria Day weekend, the Town of Cobourg rolled out a number of changes, including a $40-a-day parking pass or $5 per hour (up from $2/hour) along its waterfront which attracts thousands of tourists to the area each summer, in particular to Victoria Beach on Lake Ontario. No overnight parking is permitted.

The town also introduced a $150 seasonal waterfront parking pass.

READ MORE: Cobourg introduces new visitor waterfront parking pass

But some residents were unaware of new waterfront on-street parking fees for some streets including Third, Queen, and Albert streets from Victoria Day to Thanksgiving weekend. On-street parking for the East Beach parking area, east of Victoria Park, is now pass-holder parking only.

Keene resident Dani Guppy wasn’t aware of the changes when she visited Cobourg. The result was a $160 parking ticket. Guppy is a host with 100.5 Fresh Radio, a Corus station.

The town notes most fines are $40 but $160 tickets are issued when a meter or pay-and-display at the waterfront has expired or someone failed to pay. A $300 ticket can be issued for unauthorized use of an accessible permit.

“Who has got $160 to throw away at a parking ticket? That’s unheard of,” she said. “It was just this one day. It wasn’t in my sight, so out of sight out of mind I guess, and yes, a very expensive beach trip that day to Cobourg.”

Comparatively, on-street parking in the downtown is $1.75 per hour with a three-hour maximum. Daily permits can be bought for $8 a day for municipal parking lots.
The fines are also a smaller hit to the pocketbook with $40 tickets.

According to Brent Larmer, the town’s director of legislative services, that’s by design.

“We have to look at the rates that are charged per day and make sure that the penalty of not paying on the spot … is it in line with the offence,” he said. “So what we’re trying to do is encourage people to pay.”

The town says the changes were a result of a waterfront working group, which presented recommendations to council in January. Nearly 1,690 residents provided input on the beach use and two main themes surfaced: implement a resident parking pass and increase parking fees to offset the cost of infrastructure, beach maintenance and staffing.

“So it’s enjoyable for our residents as well as our visitors, and this helps keep down the tax levy for our residents,” Larmer said. “But also to make sure it’s a fee for use for those who are using the services on a regular basis.”

Waterfront parking is enforced from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, holidays included, with the exception of the East Beach parking area, which is enforced from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

— with files from Robert Lothian/Global News Peterborough