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By Alessia Proietti

Feedback wanted for Parking Infrastructure Project

Council extends temporary free parking downtown before replacing meters

Feb 15, 2022 | 9:57 AM

City council approved on Monday a one-time allocation of $113,000 for Red Deer’s temporary two-hour free parking in downtown until the end of 2022.

Similar to the program that took place from June to December 2021, 215 metered parking stalls, or one in every five, will be bagged for two-hours of free parking, encouraging residents to visit the downtown core.

Based on 2019 numbers from September to December, it was estimated that the city would lose $40,000 in revenue for the 2021 project with the addition of $10,000 allocated for the bags. After collecting more detailed data and noting less workers parking in downtown stalls, the estimated lost revenue until the end of 2022 is $103,000, with $10,000 allocated for bag replacements. The funding will be coming from the Operating Reserve Tax Supported budget.

The new bags will contain updated messaging for clearer signage and a QR code to the Parking Infrastructure Project website and survey, asking residents for feedback on what they want to see changed in the city’s parking services.

“The Parking Infrastructure Project is actually a holistic replacement of all of our pay infrastructure as well as a review of how we’re charging, what opportunities people have to pay, what that looks like, all of our time limits. Every component that you see today in relation to parking will be reviewed as part of that project,” said Erin Stuart, Manager of Inspections & Licensing.

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Council previously approved a $2.5 million parking infrastructure project to replace all meters in the city by the end of 2022 to early 2023.

While no concrete plan has been formulated yet, the City is considering ideas such as phone applications for online payment and viewing of parking availabilities, pay machines dispersed on streets rather than meters, and other electronic avenues.