The City is taking a closer look at its parking strategies, including requirements for new developments across the city. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

parking study

‘Change the typical approach:’ Nanaimo taking long-term look at parking needs & strategies

Jul 16, 2025 | 5:32 AM

NANAIMO — Following the adoption of changes to parking minimums in the city’s downtown, councillors are proceeding to take a further look at public parking city-wide.

The City of Nanaimo, alongside consultant Urban Systems, is reviewing on and off-street parking inventory, availability and future demand in a bid to chart a path forward for future developments.

Urban System’s transportation planner Dan Casey told councillors during a Monday, July 14 governance and priorities committee meeting it’s an area of study which has ripple effects on many other key directions.

“Parking is a broad-ranging subject matter, and so we do think there’s some opportunity through parking-related regulation that we can actually sort of start to reach some broader City policy objectives. It’s not strictly parking itself, but areas around housing affordability, environmental sustainability, health and well-being.”

At the core of several recommendations, supported by public engagement through the spring, was around parking minimums for developments in primary and secondary urban centres.

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The City recently voted to remove such minimums for new development in downtown Nanaimo, citing the fact the area is a mobility hub featuring many options for residents.

Areas like the downtown, Country Club, Woodgrove Centre and others are all considered primary or secondary centres, with easier access to rapid transit and key amenities.

Encouraging residents over a long period of time to adopt transit or multimodal travel, instead of vehicles, is a key driver.

“We are trying to provide residents and visitors in all parts of the city with complete mobility opportunities. That might look different in outlying areas of the city where vehicle dependency will probably remain more front and centre than it might in some of the more urban spaces where complete mobility might mean less reliance on vehicles.”

Research already conducted, for example, showed a much lower rate of vehicle ownership in Nanaimo’s downtown than in other areas.

Another takeaway from the information collected suggests the City could move toward developer contributions to transit infrastructure, versus cash payments for parking variances.

Casey said financial supports could be offered for those within primary or secondary urban centres who want to access transit.

“This idea that we’re going to sort of change the typical approach where sites are close to higher order transit, to see less parking, less reliance on parking, and increased requirements around supporting more people accessing transit.”

Councillors also received a review of parking rates on Monday, which showed in many cases the city falls in line with other like-sized municipalities.

Issues around resident parking exemptions, or potential resident parking passes, were raised.

City staff are due to return to Council in late October with recommendations on both the parking strategy and pricing.

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