The City of Orillia is going to look into reducing fees for a new parking lot that has gone largely unutilized by the public.
Temporary Lot 15 opened in June at Orillia’s waterfront to help address parking issues related to the reconstruction of Centennial Drive, with a set fee of $3 per hour – three times higher than the cost to park at the average city lot, and $1.75 per hour more than the city’s “high traffic” lots.
At Monday’s council meeting, Coun. Jay Fallis tabled a report seeking council’s support to reduce the fee to $2 per hour.
“This (report is) in response to a couple of residents who reached out to me that had been parking at this lot and were finding the costs were adding up for them,” Fallis said.
“I know part of the reason it's higher is because it's a temporary lot, so it was meant to get back some of the costs in setup, but … I think there's a balance between cost recovery and public good.”
The parking lot, accessible via Colborne Street East, arises from a three year agreement between the city and the property owner.
Coun. Janet-Lynne Durnford questioned how much traffic the lot has seen, noting she has heard the lot has been well-used from some residents, and “sitting empty” from others.
“Generally speaking, the lot has a very low usage rate since it's been open,” said Ian Sugden, general manager of development services and engineering. “Council will recall we recently also opened it up to parking permits for people who wanted longer term parking.”
When it opened in June, Lot 15 consisted of 99 public, standard parking spaces and three accessible spaces, and it now consists of 49 standard parking spaces, 50 permit parking spaces and three accessible parking spaces.
During a meeting at the Legion, Coun. Ralph Cipolla said some people told him they feel the lot is difficult to find.
Though one corner of the lot abuts the Legion and Studabaker’s Beachside restaurant, vehicle access to the lot is limited to the entrance on Colborne Street East.
“One of the questions that was asked is it's really hard to find access and entrance into that place. You have to go down another street and then (across),” he said.
“I know there are at least two accessible spots; they've been paved, and they're right where you would go through from the Legion, so it would likely require a redesign of the lot, too,” responded Fallis. “There'd have to be a lot of consideration … this (report) is purely considering the cost per hour for the lot.”
Fallis hoped to gain council’s support to drop the fee at Monday’s meeting, but Mayor Don McIsaac said the city has a revenue sharing agreement with the property owner, and also said the proposal should be considered by the city’s parking advisory committee.
“The parking advisory group has been circumvented — we might want to look at including them,” he said. “We also have a partner here that we'd have to talk to, as well.”
Council directed city staff to consult the property owner and the parking advisory committee on the idea, and to report back at a later date.
