Red line outlines new proposed parking zone,  while yellow line  shows area where free parking will be limited to 30 minutes – image courtesy City of Prince George

Prince George, B.C.- Mayor and Council have  approved the new parking  plan for  downtown Prince George.

The plan would see the  existing  two hour free parking limit for  most on street spots  extended to 3 hours.  It also  changes the maximum time for parking along Victoria Street  between 1st and 7th Avenues to 30 minutes and makes off street parking lots  free from 6pm to  7 am .

The plan expands the downtown parking zone  to cover an area  from 1st Avenue to Patricia Boulevard,  and from Scotia Street on the  east to Winnipeg Street on the west.

Staff report that from January to the end of August this year,  an average of 762 parking tickets were issued each month.   That’s a 19% increase over the same period  last year.  Tickets  for  parking  longer than the limit are  up  40%  for the first eight months of this year.

Of those tickets issued, staff say about 13%  (just over $40 thousand dollars worth) have been referred to collections for non payment within 6 months and has ,so far, received $14,100 in return (35%).

There have been vehicles  towed as well, with  vehicles that are parked illegally and have two or more outstanding parking tickets  put on the hook.   There have been 85 vehicles towed under  that  policy  from January to  the end of August.

When it comes to parking in City Lots, or parkades,  there is ,overall, a  22% vacancy rate, down from  the 26%  at this time a year ago, but  the highest vacancy rates are in the 2nd Avenue (37%) and  Westel (33%) parkades.  Monthly parking  fees for  City lots are  scheduled to be increased by 15% as of January, but  staff say the  rate increases should be  reviewed. Hourly rates are  not  scheduled for change in the new year. “If we’ve got a third vacancy and we are going to  tack  on another 15%,  that isn’t going to decrease  the vacancy” commented  Mayor Hall.   “I know that we’re suggesting that when we go into the new system we may move some of those  persons off of Third Avenue into the parkades, but that’s a roll of the dice,  but I’m wondering if  we can’t look at some kind of incentive to get those two (parkades) lots back to capacity.”

Staff will look at  what kind of incentives may be offered, including the potential for  group rates for businesses.

Then there’s the  license plate recognition program.   Staff  suggest  the City move to a system where vehicle’s consecutive time in the zone would be  recorded, so  in order to avoid being ticketed, the vehicle would have to either move out of the  zone, or to a City lot/parkade  and pay the hourly rate.

There will be just one vehicle outfitted with the  license plate  recognition  camera system that will be used to patrol the  zone.

There is still work to be done on  offering some  special permits for  residences  within the  zone.

The overall  budget for the new  plan , which includes the license plate recognition  equipment and  new signage, is $450 thousand dollars.  That money had been budgeted for last year, but  that money has not been used and has been carried over to this year.