Letter received November 7, 2023 from D. Wilson, Re: Off-Street Parking Review
A letter from Doug Wilson regarding the off-street parking review, expressing concerns about measuring on-street capacity and the impacts of Bill 43 (Housing Supply Act).
The report also notes that alternative fuel vehicles now make up 9% of the vehicle population. There has been a six-fold increase in in electric vehicle ownership since 2017. Electric vehicle ownership is highly reliant on ready access to nighttime charging which makes on-street parking entirely unsuitable.
A balanced approach forward
Both off-street and on-street residential parking is likely to become a critical infrastructure stressor in the CRD. Undertaking a parking review in View Royal must examine both requirements.
A critical missing element in the current project proposal is the absence of acknowledgement that on-street parking must be studied alongside off-street parking needs. One affects the other.
The current proposal seeks to find “best practices” in off-street parking to follow. Unfortunately, that approach is unlikely to produce the best result for the town. Parking is situationally dependant and practices from a dissimilar location are unlikely to work here.
Any off-street parking rules must be balanced against the reality of the View Royal built environment. A parking review that does not include a careful measurement of the capacity for on-street parking is unbalanced. Each View Royal neighbourhood has an individual street parking capacity that is easily measured. Where there is neighbourhood infrastructure that supports street parking without reducing pedestrian safety there may be good reason to propose more street parking. However, a capacity survey may find that the much of View Royal on-street parking capacity is already in use. Unless a capacity analysis is conducted this vital information will remain unknown and an off-street parking review without this information is fatally unbalanced.
The parking review also needs to look carefully at the reality of vehicle ownership in the CRD. So far, the growth in active transportation has not resulted in an overall reduction in vehicle ownership. People who bike, walk and use transit still own vehicles and that will continue to require parking.
Bill 43 – Housing Supply Act
The current Bill 43 before the legislature specifically forbids the requirement for off-street parking for developments in residential neighbourhoods. Typical methods of funding infrastructure, for instance sidewalks and on-street parking stalls, during development rezoning are also removed.
The focus of a parking review should be shifted to consider the impacts to View Royal neighbourhoods. This change of focus, alongside an on-street parking capacity analysis, will allow View Royal to prepare for the significant costs of new infrastructure that the residents will shoulder in order to prepare for implementation of this new legislation.
Doug Wilson