Downtown Pay Parking

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The District of Tofino is expanding pay parking to the downtown core of Tofino spring 2023, and is seeking community input on the proposed program.

Tofino’s summer vibrancy leads to increased parking pressures in the downtown core, creating negative impacts for many residents, businesses, and visitors. In frequent cases, informal and poor parking habits resulted in reduced parking convenience/access to public spaces, infrastructure and vegetation damage, degraded road user safety, and high enforcement needs.

Pay parking is a proven way to increase turnover and parking availability while providing an important funding source to support parking and mobility infrastructure costs without

The District of Tofino is expanding pay parking to the downtown core of Tofino spring 2023, and is seeking community input on the proposed program.

Tofino’s summer vibrancy leads to increased parking pressures in the downtown core, creating negative impacts for many residents, businesses, and visitors. In frequent cases, informal and poor parking habits resulted in reduced parking convenience/access to public spaces, infrastructure and vegetation damage, degraded road user safety, and high enforcement needs.

Pay parking is a proven way to increase turnover and parking availability while providing an important funding source to support parking and mobility infrastructure costs without additional taxation.

The Downtown Pay Parking Program is the second phase of the District's pay parking program following the introduction of beach pay parking in 2021. Downtown pay parking will be operated as a separate program from beach pay parking due to the nature of the differing parking needs of downtown and beach locations.

The Downtown Pay Parking Program is being funded through beach pay parking revenues.

Objectives

The objectives of the downtown pay parking program are to:

  • Encourage turnover of vehicles to ensure there are more open parking spaces and less traffic.
  • Encourage a sustainable mobility mode shift as outlined in the District's Multi-Modal Transportation Plan.
  • Introduce an additional revenue stream to support District programs, services, and facilities.

The downtown pay parking program is largely based on the existing parking system in the downtown core. Areas that are currently designated as timed parking will become the pay parking spaces, areas that are currently reserved for offshore parking will be unchanged.

The program is proposed to be in effect from May to October each year, between 10AM and 6PM daily. Parking demand in Tofino is highest during the busy visitor season, and the May to October timeframe is the time of year when other mobility options including the Free Shuttle, cycling, and walking are available and attractive. The daily 10AM to 6PM paid hours provide accommodations for residents to shop, bank, pick-up mail and run other errands outside of those hours without having to pay for parking during the summer season.

Public Input

The District of Tofino would like to hear from members of the community to fine tune the proposed parking program for 2023. Please use the 'Comment' and 'Ideas' features below to contribute your thoughts. District Staff will review and summarize all input received from the public prior to finalizing the program.


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  • Community Town Halls

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    Virtual Town Hall (May 17)

    The District of Tofino is planning the next Virtual Town Hall for May 17, 2023 from 4:00PM to 6:00PM on Zoom to discuss the proposed downtown pay parking program.

    Based on community feedback, research and consultations, staff prepared 3 options that were presented to Council for consideration at a Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, May 15, 2023.⁠ At this meeting, Council considered, discussed and debated all 3 options. During the discussion, Council voted and authorized staff to proceed with Option 1: recommending "unlimited free parking for all beach pass holders in the downtown pay parking areas."⁠

    Register for the Virtual Town Hall here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HtMuSV1fQGqbCXsD_PsZCg

    This Community Town Hall will be an opportunity for the public to discuss and provide feedback on the direction chosen by Council, the options proposed by staff, and ask questions.⁠

    During the session there will be an opportunity to ask questions and give feedback. You can also submit questions in advance by emailing: parking@tofino.ca


    Watch the April 26, 2023 Downtown Pay Parking Town Hall Meeting:


    Watch the April 12, 2023 Downtown Pay Parking Town Hall Meeting:

    Due to timing limitations, we weren't able to answer all questions submitted during the virtual town hall. You can find answers to those questions here.

  • Special Committee of the Whole Meeting

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    Based on community feedback, research and consultations, staff prepared 3 options that were presented to Council for consideration at a Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, May 15, 2023.⁠ At this meeting, Council considered, discussed and debated all 3 options. During the discussion, Council voted and authorized staff to proceed with Option 1: recommending "unlimited free parking for all beach pass holders in the downtown pay parking areas."⁠

    Watch the Special Committee of the Whole Meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/live/C3R7wcM7OI4?feature=share&t=3149


  • Downtown Pay Parking Locations

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    The following figure is an overview of the proposed pay parking areas. The Downtown Pay Parking Program is largely based on the existing parking system in the downtown core:

    - Areas that are in green will be Pay Parking from 10AM - 6PM daily, from May to October each year.

    - Areas that are in blue will be Free Parking with a time limit designed to encourage turnover.

    - Areas that are in maroon are reserved for Offshore Parking and their terms will remain unchanged.

    - Areas that are in yellow are regulated and historically shared with private business.

    - Areas that are in orange are Coast Guard, Firehall or RCMP parking.

    - Areas that are in red are designated no parking areas

    ***This map is a draft and is subject to change


    Add your thoughts below about the location of the proposed Paid and Timed parking areas:

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  • Downtown Core Pricing

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    District staff are working to develop an affordable and progressive fee structure to encourage space turnover ever 2.5 hours. The intent is to stimulate alternative modes of transportation and shift preferred travel times, while not being set so high that parkers are penalized for visiting downtown.

    The following fee structure proposes to implement hourly parking rates for drivers in the downtown core (or drivers without a Downtown Resident or Offshore Parking Pass) daily from 10AM to 6PM, from May to October each year:

    • $1.50 per hour for the first two hours
    • $2.00/hour for hours three and four
    • $2.50/hour for hours five and six
    • $3.00/hour for hours seven and eight
    • The cumulative cost for parking all day in a paid spot is $18.00.

    This fee structure projects net revenues of $230,000.00 for the year 2023 from the Downtown Pay Parking Program. Changes to this fee structure will impact projected revenues.


    Add your thoughts below about the Downtown Core Pricing Model (the deadline to provide feedback on pricing is April 14, 2023 at 4PM):

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  • Permits for Downtown Residents

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    The District's current proposal is to initially introduce one free annual Downtown Residential Permit per residential unit. A second annual pass per residential unit is currently proposed at $250. Over time it is expected that the cost of a Downtown Resident Permit will increase.

    It is proposed that this fee structure is phased-in over a number of years to allow the community to adapt to the new system. It is expected that the downtown pay parking program will impact existing multi-family dwelling buildings more than single-family lots where residents have the option to park more than one vehicle on a lot.

    Residents that may be eligible for a 'Downtown Resident Parking Pass' are those who have a permanent residence at an address adjacent to (on or accross from) the coloured lines (green, blue, red or maroon) on the map (see Downtown Pay Parking Locations).

    Add your thoughts below about Permits for Downtown Residents.

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  • Tofino Residents (not living Downtown or Offshore)

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    The current proposal does not include discounted permits for Tofino residents (not living Downtown of Offshore).


    Add your thoughts below:


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  • Seasonality & Time of Day

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    Time of Day

    Staff understand that any parking scheme must include accommodation for local residents to shop, bank, and pick-up mail without having to pay for parking during the summer season. Previous District parking studies highlight that parking demand in Tofino is highest between 10AM to 6PM resulting in a lack of parking spaces. The downtown pay parking program is proposed to be operational for eight hours each day from 10AM to 6PM ensuring that daily/weekly errands by residents can still be accomplished outside of pay parking hours.

    Seasonality

    The downtown pay parking program is intended to be operational from May to October each year reflecting the underlying principle of the parking program which is to manage parking during the busy visitor season rather than maximizing revenue. The May to October timeframe is also the time of year when other mobility options are available and attractive including the Free Shuttle, cycling, and walking.


    Add your thoughts below about Seasonality & Time of Day:

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  • 2 Systems: Downtown Pay Parking vs Beach Pay Parking

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    The Downtown Pay Parking Program and the Beach Pay Parking Program are proposed to be 2 separate programs.

    The two parking programs are separate due to the nature of the differing parking needs of downtown and beach locations. Parking in the downtown core is largely focused on a high turnover rate like many downtown areas. Parking at the beaches is focused on long term parking needs related to visiting the beaches and more akin to parking in a paid lot.

    The Beach Pay Parking Program accommodates longer parking periods for beach users.

    The Downtown Pay Parking Program is intended to encourage multi-modal transportation to reduce vehicular travel within the downtown core, increase parking turnover for access to shops and eateries, while also generating revenue for the community.

    Parking passes beach parking spaces and downtown spaces are not interchangeable.

    This topic is closed for feedback.

  • Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation

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    Tofino is located within Tla-o-qui-aht Ha-Houlthee (territory) and the District recognizes the importance of Tofino and Tla-o-qui-aht being aligned with respect to the downtown parking program.

    District Staff continue to consult with the Tla-o-qui-aht Nation to ensure that the two governments work together on the downtown parking program.

    This topic is closed for feedback.

  • Offshore Permits

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    The Downtown Pay Parking Program will include a model of fare-free annual parking passes for residents and visitors of Ahousaht, Opitsaht, Hesquiaht and the offshore community members of Clayoquot Sound.

    The offshore parking permit system for offshore residents will remain in place and there are no plans to change locations, number of spaces, or fee structure.

    This topic is closed for feedback.

Page last updated: 29 May 2023, 09:53 AM