Saskatoon City Hall reviews downtown parking study

Believe it or not, the City of Saskatoon has more than 20,000 parking spaces between downtown, Riversdale and Broadway.Now,the city is looking at ways to make more of those spots available to you.

On Monday, the city's transportation committee will review a comprehensive parking strategy, recommending various options available to the city to help improve parking downtown.

The key points call on the City of Saskatoon to build more parkades, improve the city's transit system and trim down the number of reserved parking spots to improve downtown parking.

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One of the major issues addressed in the reports is the area occupied by vacant lots that have been turned into daytime parking lots. The report states 26 per cent of the downtown core is made up of vacant lots and they can be developed into multi-storey parking garages.

The report also recommends the city improve transit routes downtown to minimize the number of cars that drive and need to park downtown. The parking consultants also recommend the city explore options to partner with the private sector to manage and fund new parking garages.

The report recommends eliminating the high number of reserved parking spaces downtown is another strategy to open up parking for the general public.

In June, 2014 city council approved a parking study to study the downtown area, River Landing, Riversdale and the Broadway business district to identify short and long-term strategies to accommodate more vehicles, as the city progresses in its plan to grow to 500,000 people.

The parking study began in October 2014 and consisted of two open houses in Saskatoon and interviews with 29 different stakeholders and real estate professionals.

The reports will be reviewed by both the city's administration and city councillors at Monday's meeting. The city said it will review the recommendations contained in the report and bring forth strategies on how to implement them over the next few months.

To view the full report click here.