Dysart et al plans to get rid of pay and display machines, as well as parking meters in Haliburton village.
Council voted to take the action at its Oct. 24 meeting.
The meters are to be bagged immediately – as is done over the festive Christmas shopping season – until they can be removed.
Mayor Murray Fearrey said the Business Improvement Area (BIA) want them, however the municipality is having to replace sidewalks as winter ploughing around the machines and meters is causing damage.
Chief building official Karl Korpela added council should take into consideration that the pay and display machines are nearing the end of their life, and parking meter heads are “antiquated” and would need to be replaced.
Korpela noted the BIA likes them as they control the amount of time that people can park on the main streets, allowing turnover for customers of their businesses. But Fearrey said he thinks the biggest problem is staff parking there. “I don’t think it’s the visitors. They come. They shop and they leave. I would like to think that owners have some discretion about how they provide parking on the back street or somewhere.”
Treasurer Barb Swannell said they have a parking meter reserve fund. She said Maple Avenue and Highland Street generate about $22,000-a-year in revenue, offset somewhat by municipal bylaw enforcement staffing costs. “Typically, we’ve been drawing $20,000-a-year to put into the municipal operating budget. At the end of 2022, the reserve had a balance of just over $100,000,” she said.
But Fearrey countered it was for two streets and had been accumulating for 30 years. Swannell said they’d consistently drawn on the reserve each year as well. Fearrey countered, “compare that to replacing the sidewalks every four or five years… not a very good business deal.”
It was pointed out the machines and meters make ploughing difficult in winter.
Coun. Pat Casey, said he felt “stuck” because he sits on the BIA board.
“They definitely want them to stay but the resounding feedback I get from the general public is they’re a nuisance, and I say that respectfully. But on the same note, if you’re sitting at Kozy Korner, you’re watching people with disabilities, elderly people, trying to get parking. They have to go back to their car and put the card in… there’s definitely concerns on both sides.”
Fearrey added “parking meters are a great tool if you’ve got somebody on the street all day because I see violation after violation.”
CAO Tamara Wilbee said time limits could still be enforced without machines and meters.
Korpela said they could be and that was in the report before the last council. For example, he said there is a hotspot app; or old school chalking of tires, “but that means that we’d have to go out, verify that vehicles are there, and then go out and see if they’re still there two hours later. It’s not a very effective means.” He told council he could revisit the report to come up with options.
Deputy mayor Walt McKechnie was vocal in wanting them gone as soon as possible.
“I think we should remove them and move on like so many other communities have.” However, he was interested in seeing what Korpela could come up with so people don’t park in the same spot for a full day.
“But… we all go to different communities, and quite a few of the communities I go to, there’s not any parking meters and it just seems more of a friendly atmosphere in our town, and you see people struggling. You don’t want them leaving here with a bad experience because of a silly parking ticket.” As for staff using up parking spots, McKechnie added, “it’s on the owners of the businesses. Common sense should prevail there.”
Coun. Barry Boice said it should lead to quicker snow removal, which should appeal to the BIA.
Council passed a motion that staff do what’s needed to remove the machines and meters and report back on how it will happen and how much it will cost. Fearrey suggested they could take some money out of the $100,000 reserve.
Wilbee said, “if you direct us that you want them removed at this point, we can figure out those details. And if there’s anything that’s outside what we can do, we can bring it back.
BIA weighs in
Business improvement association chair, David Zilstra, said it there are no machines and meters, they are worried about people staying in one spot all day. He added, “our area is growing, obviously more people, and the downtown is only so big. So that would be our concern. That was our concern and that still is a concern.”
He said he understands machines and meters are expensive to install and maintain, and if the expense is “way” greater than the revenue he gets where council is coming from. But, “I don’t think anybody was ticketing this summer.”
Zilstra added he understands staff are looking at alternative ways to police parking times. “That would be fine. As long as it’s enforced somehow or other.” He would like council to look at a long-term parking strategy for the downtown as well.
