City pitches new parking garage and extended free parking to aid downtown London, Ont.’s recovery
“There really is no such thing as free parking— real life is not a monopoly game,” asserted Climate Action London’s Mary Ann Hodge.
Hodge opposed a recommendation by city staff to extend a free parking promotional offer into next year.
She explained that Londoners are picking up the financial tab for the program, and bear the environmental costs, “We really need to be reducing our use of fossil fuels and encouraging other modes of transportation.”
A new report to the Civic Works Committee recommends several parking initiatives in the core area:
- Extend CORE code for free parking to Q1 of 2024
- Restart 185 Queens Ave parking garage and building process
- Allow bulk discounted reserve parking in municipal lots
- Undertake new Downtown Parking Strategy
Since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Honk Mobile Parking App has offered two hours of free municipal parking in London’s core area business districts by using the promo code CORE.
The staff report stated, “This timeframe will provide additional time for economic recovery to the spring of 2024 and allow much of the major construction to be completed in the Core Area.”
Real estate professional George Georgopolous from RE/MAX International believes the promotion is important to the economic recovery of core businesses.
“It’s a great incentive,” said Georgopolous. “I think the two hours allows people to get in and do what they want. Without that they’re gonna go to the suburbs.”
Councillor Skylar Franke rejected the extension of the free parking promotion.
“I actually tried to put a motion together last week to stop that [promo code] because I don’t think we should be subsidizing parking when we’re in a climate emergency,” Franke explained.
According to the report, the CORE code for free parking was used 200,000 times in 2022, a total discount cost of about $1 million.
Specifically, $50,000 (25 cents per transaction) was paid by the city to Honk Mobile and the remaining costs are an estimate related to parking revenue that wasn’t realized.
Hodge isn’t convinced that the popularity of the promo code translated into additional visitations to core business districts, “It isn’t clear how many of those 200,000 uses were actually people who wouldn’t have come downtown in the first place.”
In their report, city staff also recommended restarting the search for a developer to build a public parking garage and residential building (with affordable units) on a municipal lot at 185 Queens Ave. just west of Clarence.
Municipal parking lot at 185 Queens Ave. where a public parking garage may be constructed in London, Ont., as seen on June 7, 2023. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)
The initial RFP process was halted in 2020 as civic administration focussed on pandemic initiatives.
The amount of additional parking created near the centre of downtown would depend on the proposals received from developers.
“We absolutely need more parking downtown,” said Georgopolous. “Ever since the Covent Garden Market building transformed, [that was] 1,100 spaces that were gone.
Franke wants to learn more about the parking garage proposal, but thinks it isn’t the municipality’s responsibility to supply parking for private businesses and property owners.
“If you own a piece of property downtown and you want parking, people will either have to pay for it, or you’ll have to buy a parking lot and offer that to your clients,” she said.
The report on potential Core Area Parking Initiatives will be considered by the Civic Works Committee on June 13.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.