Prince George city council heard in detail the results of a parking study a year in the making at their Monday, July 28 meeting.
Creating the study involved several opportunities for the public to offer their thoughts, including an online survey back in April, a booth at the CityFest event at the Civic Centre in May and an open house at the House of Ancestors on June 25.
The final presentation slides shown to council on July 28 by LEA Consulting’s Robert Keel said in downtown Prince George, there are 2,053 off-street parking spaces across five parking lots, five parkades and three temporary lots.
There are also 1,621 on-street parking spaces downtown, with a mix of angled and parallel spaces.
Around the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia, there are 574 on-street parking spaces include 70 free two-hour maximum spaces adjacent to the possible and 504 paid spaces.
The availability of off-street parking will increase when the parkade being built as part of the acute care tower expansion at the hospital is complete.
Studying the utilization of available parking spaces downtown, the presentation said at peak occupancy, just 51 per cent of on-street parking spaces and 33 per cent of off-street parking spaces were used.
The report concluded there’s a sufficient supply of both on- and off-street parking in downtown.
Near the hospital, peak utilization was at 23 per cent of available spaces though some streets and the free two-hour parking zones were more utilized than others.
In areas with three-hour parking time limits, 14 per cent of vehicles went past the time limit during one count on May 6 and 15 per cent exceeded the three hours on May 8.
Keel said the study also looked at the parking situations at other municipalities of comparable size. Those other cities included Nanaimo, Saanich, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Maple Ridge, Kamloops, Chilliwack and Victoria.
By comparison, Keel said, Prince George provides a large supply of off-street parking and the fees charged in the hospital zone are like others.
However, he said the other cities tend to have a one- to two-hour limit for free on-street parking as well as have paid on-street parking during the week and free parking in the evenings and weekends.
The study also touched on parking needs in future years. In the downtown core, parking needs were considered for different scales, depending on how big the proposed new performing arts centre and downtown ice arena end up being in the Civic Core Plan.
This could require up to 1,915 needed parking spaces at peak utilization for the proposed new facilities, which Keel said should largely be accommodated.
To accommodate this need, the study recommends the city retain most of its off-street parking lots and parkades, transition from the existing monthly permit model to a more flexible one including evening and weekend use as well as institute paid event parking for a reasonable fee.
If the city ends up deciding to build a larger arena with capacity for 5,500 spectators, the study also recommends a shuttle bus service be used to link parking lots farther away from the venue.
Also for on-street parking downtown, the study recommends increasing bylaw enforcement, transitioning towards two-hour free parking maximums to promote turnover with paid options on side streets and to create a long-term plan to adopt the same model used near the hospital with a mix of free short-term parking and paid longer-term parking.
For downtown on-street parking, the study recommends the plaza parkade be retained or replaced if a large arena is built, consider the future of the Westel parkade and to invest in maintenance and exterior design for the rest of the off-street parking facilities.
For parkades, the study recommends the installation of emergency call station and CCTV cameras, increasing visibility and security measures in stairwells and entrances, improve exterior façade and add perimeter fencing and reinforced gates at parkade entrances.
More generally, the study recommends signage be improved for around the hospital zone, adding physical pay stations, converting Second Avenue to two-way traffic with angled parking, adding electric vehicle charging stations, improve accessible parking design and add short-term parking options.
The report lists all the recommendations, their anticipated costs and the time frame in which they should be implemented.
After the presentation, Coun. Cori Ramsay noted the finding that more than 75 per cent of motorists don’t park for longer than three hours. She wondered whether people would continue to come downtown if restrictions are put in place.
Keel said they don’t want to do anything to discourage people from going downtown, but it’s a balancing act to make sure places are available by encouraging turnover. That’s a system that has worked in many other jurisdictions, he said.
Director of finance and IT services Kris Dalio, city manager Walter Babicz, director of administrative services Eric Depenau and director of civic facilities Andy Beesley said the 2026 capital plan is still under development and upgrades to parking infrastructure like the George Street parkade are under consideration.
Coun. Trudy Klassen said she appreciated the report’s comparison of the walking distance for patrons of the CN Centre and in the civic core between available parking and venues. She asked whether there’s anything the city can do to encourage people to use parkades more often.
In other municipalities, Keel said, better signage, lighting and other design elements have helped motorists feel more comfortable using parkades.
Coun. Susan Scott said she got a lot of feedback not just from people wanting to access the hospital, but medical appointments throughout the city’s core. She said she hoped the need for accessible parking was kept in mind as the city moves forward.
Coun. Tim Bennett agreed, saying accessible parking is needed especially for people with disabilities who drive themselves to medical appointments.
Coun. Garth Frizzell said with such a surplus of spaces, he didn’t seen the need to reduce the parking time limit to two hours.
Coun. Brian Skakun was not present at the meeting.
