The Town of Ladysmith will step-up enforcement efforts for their downtown public parking spaces, aimed at those who remain parked beyond the set limit. (Dreamstime)

By Jordan Davidson

parking hotspots

Ladysmith officials favour enforcement to free up downtown parking stock

Apr 4, 2024 | 5:41 AM

LADYSMITH — Enforcement as opposed to additional inventory is seen as the answer to ensuring the downtown has enough parking options.

During their Tuesday, April 2 council meeting, councillors accepted an in-house parking study and directed staff to increase enforcement efforts of parking time limits in their downtown, specifically around Harmony Square at 1st Ave. and Gatacre St.).

Coun. Marsh Stevens said the report showed a few reasons why certain spots are used more than others, with a small number of vehicles regularly taking up popular spaces for extended periods of time.

“We’ve got some…business employees, using some of the downtown parking, somewhere between 15 to 25 per cent it seems. I thought [increased enforcement] was a good, simple, easy intervention to see if that takes away this small blip in the data.”

Last year, Council adopted plans for a parking study to be completed every two years.

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In total, 739 public parking spaces were identified in downtown Ladysmith, with 667 on-street spaces.

Parking spot time limits range from 15 minutes to two minutes and up to 24 hours.

Ladysmith Fire Rescue used drones to collect air photos of vehicles in downtown parking spots on multiple days last year, excluding peak tourist and major weekend events, to get a sense of typical downtown parking patterns.

The study found the average utilization in the downtown was 36 per cent, jumping to around 60 per cent during peak times daily between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

An 85 per cent threshold, identified by past Council decisions for potential action, was only exceeded in specific areas in certain periods of time, in particular around Harmony Square.

An example of ad hoc analysis from the study showed a few vehicles remaining in their parking spots well beyond the time limits. (Town of Ladysmith)

On Aug. 23, 2023, by 11 a.m., parking was already 70 per cent utilized for the 142 spaces available within 250 metres, or a two-minute walk from Harmony Square.

Parking spaces along the 300 block of Second Ave. and Lower High St. were 100 per cent full during this time, with other spots along First. ave between 80 and 99 per cent full.

The study found around 30 per cent of the vehicles parked in some of those spaces were over their time limit.

The report mentioned streetscape improvements such as adding sidewalks to parking areas and additional accessible parking can be considered as the need and opportunity arises.

Another parking challenge includes on-street parking located on steep inclines, which could cause issues for drivers with limited mobility.

Mayor Aaron Stone said residents could be a bit more thoughtful about where they park, and choose a spot further from their destination to leave a more accessible spot open.

“But I would still contend that some enforcement would be necessary to resolve the chronic, long-term parking problem,” Stone said. “After that, I’d like to see us replicate this study and see what kind of impact it has.”

Stone said he’d be reluctant to add more parking infrastructure at the moment, favouring enforcement to try and address the issues.

More information including an interactive downtown parking heat map can be found here on the Town’s website.

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow