Correspondence: Reliable Controls regarding On-Street Parking
Opposition to the elimination of on-street parking on Hallowell Road, citing business needs for visitor and service vehicle parking.
Mayor & Council of the Town of View Royal 45 View Royal Avenue Victoria, BC
To the Members of Council,
Reliable Controls Corp. is opposed to the elimination of the on-street parking on Hallowell Rd. As with any business we expect that our clients and support services have reasonable access to our building from the street.
I would like point out that the points I am about to make apply to the frontage area of Reliable Controls, across the street, and the road to the west. The road and access areas adjacent to Admirals walk are not included. This on-street parking has existed for many, many, years and nothing has changed that would provide the impetus for eliminating the parking. We concede that the Thrifty’s parking entrance and the new access to the aboriginal lands on the south side of Hallowell may constitute a need for change but we are offering no solutions or comments for that area.
We do not feel that the safety of anyone either driving or walking the sidewalk along Hallowell Rd. will be improved by the elimination of on-street parking in front of our building or across the street. There appear to be two concerns. The first is the safety of pedestrians on the sidewalk and vehicles exiting Outlook Place. The second concern seems to be with the width of the traffic lanes. Firstly, the sight lines from Outlook Place are not obscured by vehicles but by a large BC Hydro distribution device and a Telus substation on one side, and on the other side a cedar hedge and signage for the townhouses. On Hallowell Rd. the vehicle setbacks from the curbs are standard and exist everywhere else in View Royal and the city. Eliminating parking on the north side will not improve pedestrian safety. Secondly, there is no reason to eliminate the parking on the south side of Hallowell Rd. It has no impact on the safety of a pedestrian on the north sidewalk. If the concern is driving, the traffic lane is as wide, or wider, than any other street in the city. Any driver exiting the condominiums to the west will have the same driving conditions everywhere in the city. In fact, because Hallowell is not a through road south of Thrifty’s it is very quiet. Again, if the concern is the driving lanes our large delivery trucks have no trouble negotiating Hallowell Rd and staying in the laneways. There has never been an accident or cause for concern of the width of the driving lanes. Driving Hallowell Rd. is of no greater concern than driving anywhere else in CRD.
Why does Reliable Controls require street parking? Because we constantly have visitors to our facility that require parking either in front of the building or across the street. In addition to our clients, we have bankers, sales people, consultants, and strategic partners that frequently want to park in front of our building, on either side of the street. We have legitimate business reasons for wanting to utilize on-street parking.
Before our expansion we had off-street parking for employees and when we used the parking lot for expansion we significantly increased the available parking by creating two floors of underground parking. We have employee parking and visitor parking within the facility but sometimes the in-house parking cannot be used. A typical example is a trade’s person coming to service on-site equipment. The vans with ladders commonly used by the trades will not clear the height restriction of our parking garages. We have trades coming to service HVAC equipment, modify electrical, and service the elevators. We need to have a parking to accommodate these people. We need on-street parking.
We cannot control the number of visitors to our business at any given time. There will be times when there is an overflow that will require on-street parking. We have more than complied with the bylaws and regulations for providing parking and we go to great lengths to minimize the vehicular traffic on Hallowell Rd. We provide incentives to our employees to use alternate means of transportation. We pay cash to have people bike or walk, or ride the bus. We encourage people to car pool, and yes, they get incentive pay too! We have a car for the expressed use by employees that use alternate transportation so that they can get to dental appointments or run to their child’s school. We also participate in Bike to Work Week. We encourage healthy life styles and pay for entry fees for The TC10K and the Goodlife Marathon. Even with all the incentives there are times when we just can’t handle all the vehicles. We built the new building for normal traffic conditions and more than satisfied the Town’s requirements for providing parking. It’s only a year and a half since we completed the building. If there was going to be an issue about the on-street parking it should have been brought up before we started construction.
Reliable Controls is a good corporate citizen. We went the extra to put in rain water management systems and to create attractive landscaping. We didn’t pave over all the land for parking. We have enhanced the area instead of creating an industrial desert. We have gorgeous green space in front of the building and lined Outlook Place with Ginko Bilboa trees. We have taken leadership in creating sustainable buildings and embraced the LEED philosophy to ensure harmony with the environment. We are fulfilling the View Royal mantra of livable, green, and sustainable.
Did you know that Reliable Controls paid more than $100,000 in property taxes to the town last year and will again this year.
Where do you expect our visitors to park? We need to have on-street parking to operate our business.
This motion is being rushed and Reliable has had scant time to investigate and respond. Reliable Controls is asking that this motion to eliminate parking on Hallowell Rd. be struck down.
Sincerely,
Dave Percy Facility Administrator
Eliminating parking will not offer any additional safety for pedestrians. The utility box and substation block all view of the sidewalk on the east side. The massive hedge of the west side belonging to the condominiums completely blocks the view of pedestrians.
Parking on P1 level – notice the height restriction
Early morning 8:00am Monday and still lots of employee parking at Reliable Controls.
Parking on south side of street by Thrifty’s employees @ 8:00am including in front of Reliable Controls. The car in front of the Reliable Controls entrance vacated as the picture was being taken. It was not a vehicle that belong to any Reliable employee.
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