Jason Stockfish | [email protected]
Council discussed at its Oct. 4 meeting whether there should be an early cessation to paid parking for the year in an effort to attract visitors.
The matter was first raised at the Sept. 27 committee of the whole meeting by Shelley Koebel, owner of Andromeda Coffee, Snowdome Coffee Bar and Coin Clean Laundry.
At that meeting, Koebel presented her argument in favour of 鈥渞evert(ing) from our paid parking back to the two-hour parking system to encourage people to come and spend some time downtown鈥� after the Chetamon wildfire and the resulting power outage.
鈥淲e are鈥n a recovery stage now from the shutdown,鈥� she said.
鈥淥ur business was shut down (for) 10 days (during) our most important time of year.鈥�
Koebel said business owners are looking to create an inviting message to visitors in the wake of the power outage and subsequent messaging from the municipality that deterred visitation during the crisis.
鈥淚鈥檓 hoping that someone from the municipality can communicate with the business community to maybe find some quick, efficient solutions.鈥�
Koebel noted there are times when parking lanes downtown are nearly empty in the middle of the day.
鈥淭he plan is to invite people back downtown and let them know we are open for business,鈥� she said.
鈥淚 think (ending paid parking) would be a simple solution to show some support for the business community and allow people to come downtown at no cost.鈥�
Coun. Scott Wilson expressed gratitude to Koebel for bringing forward ideas to council but explained why he was not convinced.
鈥淢y reservations are that we're in our first year of paid parking, and we鈥檝e gathered a lot of info so far, and the Dark Sky Festival is coming up, and I would like to study the data from a full year,鈥� Wilson said.
鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 think free parking is going to necessarily change peoples鈥� travel plans, but I appreciate the idea.鈥�
Koebel said that while she understands plans were made, current circumstances suggest those plans should change.
鈥淲e too as businesses have plans,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e plan our year. We plan what鈥檚 going to happen, what our outlook is, what we expect our revenue to be.鈥�
鈥淪o, I鈥檓 not too sure that sticking to paid parking just because you have a plan鈥�(is) a valid argument,鈥� she added.
Coun. Ralph Melnyk said the message that should be invested in is that the town is open for business and people are welcome.
鈥淲e want people thinking about Jasper, not just now for free parking but in the future.鈥�
At the Oct. 4 meeting, Melnyk offered more thoughts.
鈥淲e are about to go into a very busy long weekend with great weather, followed by a couple of weekends of the Dark Sky Festival, and I think we have an opportunity to continue to increase our revenues that will help us through this budget year.鈥�
The total revenue generated from paid parking in 2022 will be determined after the program concludes at the end of October.
CAO Bill Given reported that from Oct.1 until Oct. 4, there were over 2100 paid parking transactions that created more than $8,500 in revenue.
An interim report presented to council earlier in the year noted $114,487 in revenue from May 16 until July 7.
鈥淣ext year we鈥檒l continue to generate significant revenues, which is why I wanted to see the full year program (and) the impact that it will have on the overall municipality and how our residents will reap the benefits of this revenue to help support municipal operations.鈥�
Coun. Kathleen Waxer agreed that the revenue from paid parking benefited the community as a whole.
鈥淚鈥檝e given this a great deal of thought and鈥he one thought that kept rolling through my mind was the fact that the revenue that is generated is for the benefit of all the people in Jasper,鈥� Waxer said.
鈥淚t isn鈥檛 our revenue. It鈥檚 revenue that belongs to the whole community.鈥�
Mayor Richard Ireland explained why he was in favour of keeping the program intact.
鈥淚 share with Coun. Waxer a bit of a conundrum dealing with the issue because I do appreciate a member of the community coming forward with a suggestion that was perceived to help the business community, which is already in the process of trying to recover from COVID and now has to recover also from a lengthy power outage.鈥�
However, the mayor said the math indicates approximately $100,000 of revenue is yet to be generated and collecting that money would be of greater benefit than giving it up.
鈥淚 cannot imagine and I have seen nothing to suggest that there would be an increase in business activity anywhere close to that (amount) if we were to discontinue paid parking at this stage.鈥�
Council voted unanimously to leave the paid parking program intact.
