Correspondence from D. Wilson, Re: Off-Street Parking Review
A letter from a resident expressing concerns about the lack of a full draft Terms of Reference and the underlying assumptions of the parking review.
To: View Royal Mayor and Council
Thanks for the opportunity to comment on agenda items.
Please consider the following information regarding the proposed Off-Street Parking Review project. I hope you will find my comments and suggestions constructive.
From a business practice perspective I have a concern that the report to council has not met the object that council set out, that is, the report does not supply a draft of the Terms of Reference for the project.
The purpose of today’s report is stated as:
BACKGROUND:
Council requested an opportunity to review the draft terms of reference for the Off-Street Parking Review prior to the RFP being posted on BCBid. This report has been prepared for the Committee to review and provide feedback on the draft terms.
It is a normal business process for the sponsors of a project to review the Terms of Reference for the project prior to project commencement. It is a review of the precise wording that will direct the actions taken to ensure the project delivers the outcomes that justify the expense of the project.
When contracting professional services, the Terms of Reference become the foundation of the contract. They will be the fundamental document that allows the Town to evaluate completeness of the project deliverables before paying for the report. The Terms of Reference will be the primary reference document in any contract dispute.
A draft Terms of Reference that is ready for review is a copy of the exact document that will be used to provide keystone guidance for the whole project. The purpose of the review is to ensure that the sponsors are in agreement in order to give final approval to proceed with the project under those specific Terms of Reference. In this case that would be a complete Terms of Reference ready to post to BCBid pending council approval.
The document included in this report is not a completed draft Terms of Reference. There is a list of concepts that may be used to create a Terms of Reference but that is not a draft that is anywhere near ready for final review. Council asked to review a draft Terms of Reference and now, two years and four months later, they still have not been given the draft they requested.
Project Origin
The concept of an off-street parking review started over 2 years ago as a companion project to the Official Community Plan (OCP) update.
During the public engagement for the OCP update it was a common refrain to hear that too much off street parking was a problem for development. The justification for this view was to point to a single new business that staff claimed to have excess parking. There was no discussion of other businesses in View Royal that rely on street parking for their parking lot overflow and even use the traveled lanes of the streets for delivery trucks that have inadequate access to off street loading.
Residential off-street parking was identified as detrimental to increased housing supply. No explanation of where parking would take place was provided.
One of the critical failures in the OCP project was in the method and content of public engagement. Participants often reported that they felt they were being told what was going to happen rather than being engaged to provide their input for consideration.
The current proposal seems headed toward the same engagement model despite all the efforts of council to ask for a change in engagement process.
A Challenging Foundation
The current Project Summary for the Off-Street Parking Review carries forward the biases that were present during the OCP project.
Attachment A, the fifth page of the staff report on today’s agenda, clearly states that the key element justifying a $75,000 study is that off-street parking requirements are excessive throughout the zoning bylaw. The same document also makes the unsupported argument that excess parking discourages sustainable transportation use. These predetermined ideas set the direction for initiating this project as these quotes demonstrate:
- Executive Summary: In June 2021, Council directed staff to review the parking regulations embedded in the Zoning Bylaw to determine if the current regulations require excessive parking, meet current and future parking demand in new developments.
- Business problem and opportunity: During the draft OCP consultation in 2021, Council directed staff to review the existing parking regulations in the Zoning Bylaw to better understand parking supply and demand in new developments as there are concerns that the current parking regulations are too high, which can result in less efficient and desirable site planning and design outcomes.
- Business risks: Providing too much parking can discourage residents from using more sustainable modes of transportation.
Contradictory Information from the CRD
The Capital Regional District Origin Destination Household Travel Survey is produced every five years, the latest report is from September 2023. The number of vehicles in the CRD is growing faster than the population, that is, the per capita vehicle ratio is growing. The CRD population grew by 8.5% while the number of vehicles grew by 9.6%. Simply put, this report demonstrates that more, not less, parking will be needed.
It also shows that the mode share of sustainable transportation - walking and cycling - are increasing right alongside increased car ownership (and the commensurate need for parking). The report notes that this increased uptake in active transportation is complementary to car ownership, that is, people who use active transportation are also likely to own a vehicle as well; that vehicle must be parked somewhere.
Sadly, public transit use is shown to be falling very significantly (25.7%), partially attributable to the pandemic but there may be other shortcomings that limit the ability to even retain or regain users of the transit system. This is counterbalanced by the good news that there was an overall reduction in the number of trips made by each household although this now means that there are more cars parked for longer periods.