Council Meeting Reflections – November 17, 2015
18 Wednesday Nov 2015
Written by parry034 in Parry Sound, Reflections
As I have mentioned previously it is my intention to report on the proceedings of Parry Sound Council meetings by exception, when something interesting transpired. That is the case with this past Tuesday’s meeting. A meeting I expected to be over by 8:30 ended at 9:00. The reason? Free Parking. I’d like to share my observations and thoughts.
As you probably know by now Council has punted the issue of Free Parking downfield for another six months. Or perhaps you might say they ‘iced’ the issue. I was surprised, I had expected that it would be approved. I even went so far as to offer my support for Free Parking in a deputation with the suggestion we not spend $60,000 annually on a parking attendant. On principle I have opposed Free Parking from the start but have come to realize that if managed properly, with limited expenses, it might be a boon to the Parry Sound Downtown Business Association. At this time, and with the impending departure of the medical clinics, they probably need all the help they can get.
The Parry Sound Downtown Business Association did a short deputation in support of Free Parking. They indicated it was well received by the public and the merchants, and they supported its continuation. At the same time they said that the costs for Free Parking really could not be borne by the DBA members because it would raise their current DBA assessments by as much as 60%.
Well the agenda item was kicked off by Councillor Saulnier objecting to Free Parking on the grounds that the Town could not afford it. He was quite forceful in his objection. That seemed to set the tone for the discussion that followed. I mention Councillor Saulnier by name only because it is germane to a potential issue. My policy is not to identify councillors by name, that can be handled by the ‘traditional’ press if they wish to do so. I’m more interested in policy than I am personality.
Well the discussion went sideways with much more sniping than I have seen to date. Councillors suggested that proper procedure was not being followed, and the process was being subverted. From my seat in the audience I can’t agree. There were a number of items under the Free Parking resolution that really needed to be addressed separately. As was mentioned at the meeting, the resolution was more of an ‘omnibus’ type of document that should have been presented as a series of separate resolutions and directions.
In the end Council did agree to approve some minor permit issues related to parking, but the whole issue of Free Parking was put off for six months. One Councillor was ready to reject it outright, and there was another Councillor who wanted to understand how Free Parking would fit into the overall rejuvenation of the Downtown. In the end it was agreed that Free Parking would be ‘iced’ for six months while the Parry Sound Downtown Business Association and Staff prepared a plan for the Downtown’s rejuvenation, and how Free Parking fit in. Good luck with that. It will require multiple meetings, a consultant, and probably $30,000 to properly be prepared. It’s not that simple or easy to produce an integrated strategic plan for what is a real challenge.
But back to why I mentioned Counillor Saulnier by name. I think he has a conflict, that may not rise to the level of ‘pecuniary’ interest, but creates an issue that puts into question a truly impartial perspective. That is not to suggest his strong conviction the Town cannot afford Free Parking is not sincere. But there is an issue with his personal business interests and the Free Parking issue that create an apparent conflict.
Councillor Saulnier is a co-owner of Georgian Bay Airways which is located in the Town Dock area along Bay Street. His business is part of the Parry Sound Downtown Business Association, but that area of the DBA does not have metered parking. A resolution in 2014 to meter that area was roundly opposed by the business community and hastily dropped. The Georgian Bay Airways business depends in part on people parking in the area and dropping hundreds of dollars for an airplane ride. A buck or two for parking probably wouldn’t be an issue, just an inconvenience. Georgian Bay Airways also sells ice cream and drinks in the summer months to a population for whom metered parking would be more of an issue, perhaps not in terms of cost, but convenience. They probably couldn’t as easily afford to pay for a ticket. And if meters were to be installed on Bay Street I imagine people would start parking in the Island Queen lot, which would require the owners of that business to enforce parking for clients and in the end do nothing but generate ill-will with visitors and surrounding businesses. I would suggest that if Councillor Saulnier continues to argue against Free Parking that he demand metered parking be installed along Bay Street and in the Town parking lot beside his business. To do less would be hypocritical and appear to be self-serving. I suspect that this area, if metered, would turn a very nice profit given the large number of visitors there in the summer. Or it could stifle business and screw everybody.
I will make the prediction that the Town will adopt Free Parking, it just will be a very tortured process to get there. If we are to expect a report in six months that suggests it will be delivered the end of May next year. What is to be done in the meantime? Free parking? Council has previously approved Free Parking until the end of January and probably will need to pass a resolution to extend it to the end of May. But of course the end of May will be when the report is submitted; expect another two months to digest and debate the report. So we probably need to extend free parking to the end of July. Well, we can’t change parking rules in the middle of the tourist season so it needs to be extended to the end of September. Then why not to the end of the year?
I don’t support the concept of Free Parking in principle, but it really will not be that expensive if the Town manages it properly. This implies parking compliance is managed by exception. Ticket the chronic offenders. They will become very obvious, very quickly. In speaking to people after the meeting they mentioned that there are few chronic offenders who don’t mind getting a ticket. My answer to that is make the towing of offenders an option. Get ticketed for the fourth time in a 30-day period and you get towed. That may not prevent all abuse by downtown business people, but it will surely limit it to three times a month. And that probably can be absorbed by the system without inconveniencing visitors and clients.
Let’s not debate global warming, I mean Free Parking, let’s understand that it is going to happen. Let’s spend time and effort on understanding how to best manage it.
Between a Rock and a Salt Pile (Parry Sound in Black and White)
No comments
November 19, 2015 at 6:53 am
I want to preface these comments to say I am speaking only for myself and these reflections in no way speak for Council.
This has already been a ‘tortured’ process dating back a number of years not months. If there was a obvious solution, someone would have brought it forward by now and viola there would have been peace and harmony. That has not happened.
There is a current consultants report is in the hands of the Towna nd the DBA that can and will be used to develop a more comprehensive approach as well as hopefully formalizing and improving the relationship between the DBA and the Town.
This ‘parking crisis’ is an opportunity to review that report and implement much of what it suggests as all parties are feeling some sense of urgency to move forward.
One thing is certain, there is no such thing as free -the money has to come from someplace. Pick your poison -meters, Taxes or through the membership of the DBA. Whether Council passes the costs associated with parking along directly or the number of vacant storefronts in the downtown increases this has a real consequence for everyone’s tax bill so the entire community has a significant stake in this. I have accepted there no way to make everyone happy. Hopefully we can strike a balance that will help ensure the Downtown continues to be a vibrant commercial hub in the community for years to come.
Punting to consider all of the options in an ordered and logical manner often results in a better outcome than making a more hasty decision might have.
November 19, 2015 at 10:24 am
Paul:
Thanks for taking the time to offer your comments. I feel your comments are balanced and offer some of the rationale for the delay in addressing the Free Parking issue. Let me offer a few comments as a ‘spectator’ to the process. I pretty much attend all of the ‘games’, have watched the players in action, and have developed a sense of the ‘flow of the game’.
1. It’s pretty obvious that Council decisions are not pre-determined by means of private meetings. This is good. I see another municipality is under the gun for having ‘off the record’ meetings, perhaps to ‘line up their ducks (pucks?)’. Holding the discussion only in open meetings means that it gets a little messy, but it is genuine and transparent.
2. The decision to look at all of the issues is fair and reasonable. But it is also pretty obvious. I’m not sure why the decision was made at effectively the 11th hour to undertake this process. The request should have been made months ago.
3. It’s interesting how the maintenance, snow removal and repair, of the public parking lots is treated as a separate expense. I think it really is no different than the maintenance of other Town parking areas, notably the Town Hall parking area, the Bobby Orr Community Centre, the Tony Agnello Water Treatment facility, the Fire Hall, etc. They all offer ‘free parking’ and are paid for by means of the usual Public Works budget line. The reason for certain parking areas being metered, James Street, the corner of Gibson and Seguin, etc., is because they can provide a revenue stream. Rather than toss the parking revenue into the general revenue stream it was decided to put it into a parking reserve account. Fair enough, but really the expense to maintain these areas are a general expense like the Town’s many other parking areas, regardless of who uses them.
4. The considerable cost of operating paid parking is in a large part a result of the meters and the supervision and monitoring. Take out the cost of the meters and the parking attendant and the annual costs drop dramatically. So if we want to offer Free Parking those costs need to be eliminated. At that point the costs are really not that great. The Town still plows streets, whether they are in the downtown or in the ‘burbs’. The additional cost of clearing and repairing the downtown parking areas is not that great, especially if we aren’t buried in snow in future years. We already have the equipment and the staff. The cost can be manageable, perhaps an additional $40,000 per year. That probably means an additional $15 per year to my property taxes. I’ll accept that if I don’t need to worry about a ticket and it supports local businesses.
5. Councillor Saulnier made a fair point about the Parking Reserves being used for other, non-parking, purposes. I note that in past budgets parking reserves have been regularly used to pay for downtown flowers and to subsidize a portion of the Fire Department’s costs. I suspect there are more non-parking uses of the reserve. Take these cost out and you probably have pretty limited incremental expenses to maintain the shopping related parking areas.
6. If we are going to operate Paid Parking we need to be fair and consistent. That means metering all of the Town’s parking areas. The obvious area that needs to be metered is Bay Street. Why treat this area differently? Should it matter whether a visitor or resident wants to wander around the downtown or the waterfront and spend money? And why not meter the Bobby Orr Community Centre at the same time? Does it enjoy privileged status? I can hear the howls already. “Metered parking at the BOCC? Why then people will be even less likely to use the facility with this charge, and we’ll be required to subsidize it even more.” Bingo – perhaps that supports the DBA’s argument. The Stockey Centre is probably okay without metering because it pays for its own maintenance costs, presumably through ticket and user fees. But then again the Town does subsidize it to the tune of hundreds of thousands a year so perhaps it should also be metered. It also makes sense that if Bay Street is metered then everyone will park at the Stockey Centre. Oh the headaches with metered parking and trying to be fair.
7. As I have mentioned previously there is no need to have 100% monitoring of parking. Do it by exception and make it sting for the chronic offenders. If we have the resources to provide parking attendant and by-law enforcement services to surrounding municipalities I’m sure we can find the resources to do parking enforcement for the downtown with our currently budgeted resources.
I won’t go on. The bottom line is that there is no right and there is no wrong. Once Free Parking advanced to the current stage it was obvious that it needed to be enacted. The issue was not whether to do it or not, it was how to do it best. And sitting in the bleachers watching the action it seems that Council has not yet wrapped its collective heads around ensuring that Free Parking was as inexpensive as possible. You can’t make everybody happy but you can do things the best way possible.
I can’t believe that I’m defending Free Parking. My business sense, and the studies, suggest that free parking is not really free. But at the same time free parking can be done inexpensively with a net benefit to the business community. We are not Toronto, or New York City, or London, where downtown parking causes headaches far beyond the cost of lot repair and snow removal. On balance I support Free Parking for Parry Sound. Let’s just do it and move Staff and Council’s attention to more important issues.
November 19, 2015 at 2:17 pm
I’ll take the comments re transparency as a compliment.
I do not disagree with your remarks. Yes, perhaps this could have moved along more quickly and smoothly. As the Town’s rep on the DBA I’ll take much of the responsibility for that not happening but sometimes you are better off allowing things to run their course.
The first sentence of the last paragraph sums it up. While it doesn;t necessarily make sense, but it might be the best choice? Continuing for the next number of months through the winter seems to have limited risk.
Just as an aside, Gravenhurst has free parking. Bracebridge continues to have metres and their downtown has suffered no ill effects. Huntsville removed metres a number of years ago and are now studying the possibiity of re-establishing metred parking. I do not want to go there! If we are to remove metres at some point, we should do knowing that is absolutely the right decision.