Edmonton to crack down on vacant, illegal parking lots

The City of Edmonton is aiming to redevelop surface parking lotsto improve central neighbourhoodsand crack down onsome lots that have been operating illegally.

Council's urban planning committee agreed at a meeting Tuesday to have city staff look at the options for redeveloping lots and return in the spring with the results.

Coun. Ashley Salvador suggested the initiative.

"It really comes down to creating a vibrant downtown, and a safe downtown," Salvador said. "Of course, surface parking lots are not the first thing that comes to mind when we're thinking about a vibrant, walkable, bustling downtown."

Councillors also agreed to put the brakes on parking lots operating without a proper permit, a problem that's been going on for about a decade, Salvador noted.

"I feel quite strongly that the phase-out of un-permitted surface parking lots in particular is a part of that conversation," Salvador said.

The central area includes Jasper Avenue, sections of Oliver, The Quartersincluding several mainly empty lots east of 97th Streetthe River Crossing area of Rossdale, the North Edge area and 124th Street.

Anne Stevenson, councillor for the downtown Ward O-day'min, agreed some lots could be turned into something more inviting.

"I think this is an issue that has sort of dogged our downtown for a number of years," Stevenson said.

Although few lots are consistently full, Stevenson said businesses still want to have parking spaces for clients.

"The availability of parking is really important to ensuring they can attract their customers," Stevenson said.

Stephanie McCabe, the city's manager of urban planning and economy, said many businesses rely on parking.

"There's a perception sometimes, whether that's right or wrong, that it's hard to find parking in the downtown," McCabe told councillors. "So we'll have to address that in the report as well."

No permits

The report due next June is expected to include details on the scale of surface lots without permits, and the city's ideas for dealing with them.

Puneeta McBryan, executive director of the downtown business association, says there are plenty of parking spaces within the "permitted, legal, and adequately maintained parking lots" and that downtown doesn't need the "many unpermitted, poorly maintained gravel parking lots."

Landowners profit from them and show no intention of developing them or investing in appropriate maintenance and landscaping, McBryansaid in an email Tuesday.

"The first step is having enough data and information about which lots are compliant and operating legally, and which ones are not," McBryansaid.

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Parking lots operating without a permit is also an issue that Chris Buyze, president of the Downtown Community League, has been following for years.

He said the league has worked with the city for 10to 15 years to curb non-permitted parking lots and hopes this directive will lead to results.

"We can't really have people operating downtown without proper permits, whether you agree there should be a parking lot there or not."

Room to grow

Buyze said turningparking lots into mixed-use high-rise and mid-rise residential buildings is one way to attract more people to movedowntown.

"There's a lot of room for growth and density," he said, noting that other cities with a vibrant downtown have a lot of people living there.

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Melissa Lovatt, spokesperson for the city's urban planning and economy department, said developing surface parking lots is important for the future of downtown.

The downtown core contributes nine per cent of the city's taxes on just one per cent of the land, she noted.

"Development of surface parking lots is also a way to manage our city's growth by promoting infill development," Lovatt said in an email.