Tiny Township will welcome more of its neighbours to access municipal beaches with 225 non-resident, parking passes available this year.
"Given the fact, we share their services in terms of library and arenas, we could do better than 200," said Coun. Tony Mintoff, talking about the staff recommendation of increasing the $100 passes to 200 from 175 offered on a first-come-first-served basis previously.
A second option was for council to increase the number to 250, but Mintoff thought that might be a stretch and create competition for parking with residents.
"For this year, I'd like to see it at 225," he added. "It would be manageable and demonstrate Tiny's willingness to encourage our neighbours to come and enjoy our beaches as they have been able to do for so many years."
Mintoff's suggestion was based on the uncertainty around whether the township will go back to a paid parking system, which was suspended last year due to an influx of beach visitors.
Coun. Cindy Hastings wanted to know staff's capacity to increase the number of permits at the last minute.
"If we do have the decision to remove the paid parking, how hard is it to print more non-resident permits at a later date?" she asked.
Steve Harvey, chief municipal law enforcement officer, said it would not be difficult.
"We already have the permits on hand, and generally there is a buffer if we need more," he said.
Where Deputy Mayor Steffen Walma agreed with the increase, he thought it should be considered only a temporary solution.
"I am getting very frustrated by the fact that we haven't looked at a daily permit compared to a seasonal permit," he said. "It's starting to get on my nerves. We've talked about this from an affordability standpoint in the past. Having them listed as $100 makes it unattainable for some people in our neighbouring municipalities."
Instead, Walma said, council could consider leaving the number at 175 of maybe even reducing it but tripling the cost and using the additional funds to create a daily permit renewal program at a rate of $20 a day.
"I think we need to stop throwing Band-Aids as a solution," he said. "I would suggest we could have less permits but renewed on a daily basis so our neighbours can access our beaches."
Mayor George Cornell said to reach a decision before April 1, when the passes are up for sale, council should consider the increase to 225, pending a long-term strategy.
At the end of the day, council ratified the committee of the whole resolution, approving 50 additional non-residential parking permits asking staff to report back on the option of daily permits.
