Proposal to allow portion of the Helmcken Centennial Parking for Park&Ride users
Email from a resident suggesting using under-utilized portions of Helmcken Centennial Park to relieve over-capacity at the nearby park and ride lot.
From: Krassimir Kostov
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2019 12:26 PM
To: Damian Kowalewich DKowalewich@viewroyal.ca; Info Address info@viewroyal.ca
Subject: Proposal to allow portion of the Helmken Centennial Parking for Park&Ride users
Good day View Royal Council,
Recently I started doing my part to reduce the morning traffic from View Royal by using the park&ride during the weekdays.
Since I have to drop off my child at the nearby school, I have to use the Helmken designated park&ride parking. What I have noticed is that the parking lot is always full . It became apparent that the P&R parking is used by a lot of non-park&ride users (i.e. hospital staff and other nearby businesses). My observations are that the lot is 100% full in the morning (even at 7.00 am weekdays) and 85% in the afternoons - so the demand is there. I know View Royal has been trying to address the issue for a long time.
I would like to bring this proposal for your consideration : somehow immediate solution to the P&R issue is to allow a portion of the nearby Helmken Centennial Park to be used by the P&R users as "overflow". The HC park has 25 designated parking spots, and during the morning and afternoons / weekdays there is merely any vehicles (0 to maximum 3 vehicles observed over a month time). There are 6 spots at the HC park (located outside of the curb "divider", alongside the Kingham Pl) creating somehow a "natural" division. Please see the attached image below:

I would greatly appreciate if you consider this proposal - to allow an exclusion for the portion of the HC Parking for Park&Ride purposes. The benefits of this proposal are:
- Considering that the P&R parking lot is approx 60 vehicles, this represents a 10% immediate increase of the P&R capacity
- no cost to town of View Royal,
- does not create pressure to neighboring streets
- utilizes a portion of an existing lot that is under-utilized - no implementation cost
- does not put pressure on the HC Park parking lot
Thank you for considering this proposal.
Respectfully,
Krassimir Kostov,
View Royal resident