Port Moody will implement pay parking at five locations

Pay parking hasn’t even started in five locations around Port Moody, but there’s already more spaces it will cover.

This week, council decided the new charges to park should also apply to four spots on the city-owned section of Capilano Road in Suter Brook Village, between Morrisey Road and the bridge over Suter Brook Creek.

“It’s just around the corner of what people think is the commercial area of Suter Brook,” said Coun. Samantha Agtarap on Tuesday, April 23, as council approved the implementation of pay parking for about 400 city-owned spots, including 25 commercial unmarked street spots just around the corner on Morrissey Road as well as Suter Brook Way.

The other locations are:

222 marked stalls at Rocky Point Park
62 unmarked street spots on Esplanade Avenue from Rocky Point Park to Murray Street
62 unmarked street spots on Marry Street, from Columbia to Williams streets
32 unmarked street spots on Ungless Way from Noons Creek Drive to Guildford Way

You can find maps of the new pay parking areas below.

Port Moody engineering project manager Sandy Tolentino told council pay stations are expected to be in place by August.

Not all councillors were in support of ending the days of free parking in public locations around the city, though.

Coun. Haven Lurbiecki said the new charges present an additional financial burden to families already struggling with the high cost of living in Port Moody and it shouldn’t cost them more to be able to visit a public park like Rocky Point that they’re already helping pay for through taxes.

“More families are just trying to get by right now,” she said. “Access to park land should be equitable. Charging for parking is not equitable.”

But Tolentino said the new charges are necessary to encourage the turnover of parking spaces so they can be used by more visitors through the day, especially in places like Rocky Point Park when the weather is nice.

Pay parking would also motivate people to consider alternate modes of transportation, like transit, cycling or walking, she added.

Coun. Kyla Knowles said the implementation of year-round pay parking in the five locations around the city will provide useful data to determine how those spaces are used while Coun. Diana Dilworth suggested the revenue the spots generate will help pay for improvements around Port Moody.

The proposed new hourly charges range from $1.50/hr in the off-season from September to May at Rocky Point Park, Esplanade Avenue and Murray Street to $2.50 an hour from June to August at the same locations. Rates proposed for the spaces at Suter Brook Village and on Ungless Way will be $2.25 year round.

The charges will apply from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from September to May at Rocky Point Park, Esplanade Avenue and Murray Street and from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. from June to August.

At Suter Brook Village and on Ungless Way, the rates will be applied from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The maximum parking duration will be four hours at all locations except Suter Brook Village, where it will be two hours.

In a report, Tolentino said the new fees are expected to generate about $550,000 in gross revenue. Operational and enforcement costs, including the hiring of a technician to deal with customer service requests and complaints as well as liaise with the vendor supplying the pay stations, will result in net revenue ranging from $85,000 to $200,000. She said that might get a bit of a boost when fines from parking scofflaws are factored in, but Jeff Moi, Port Moody’s general manager of engineering and operations, said the rate for those penalties has yet to be determined.

“It will most likely be consistent with other parking fines already in the city,” he said.

Tyson Ganske, Port Moody’s deputy chief financial officer and manager of financial planning, told council it will take about a year into the pay parking program to determine the effectiveness of the rates, time restrictions and penalties and tweaks will likely be made.

“We just want to make sure we’re taking a cautious approach,” he said.

Tolentino said users will pay for their parking at 15 or 16 standalone pay stations that accept credit and debit cards as well as mobile phone wallets, but not cash. One or more downloadable mobile apps would also be available and a QR code option may be implemented, although that comes with some security challenges, she added.

Signs will be installed in all the new pay parking areas informing visitors of the hours it's in effect and duration limits.

Tolentino said the only exemptions to the new charges will be for motorists displaying a valid accessible parking permit, veterans with a.valid veteran license plate and city staff using the parking spaces for work and displaying a valid pass.

In response to a query from Dilworth, Moi said it’s unlikely recipients of Port Moody’s Freedom of the City honour will be able to enjoy unfettered free parking.

“It would be logistically difficult,” he said.

Users of the EV charging stations in Rocky Point Park won’t have to pay separately for their parking, but the EV charging rates there will be increased to incorporate the new parking fee.

Here are the maps where you'll soon have to pay to park in Port Moody: