Kincardine council has voted against doing public consultation for changing the rules for parking downtown.
During the meeting held on June 26th, council voted against directing staff to complete public consultations about implementing parking limits on Queen Street.
In the proposal presented to council, staff would have been directed to have residents weigh in on whether they supported a two-hour parking limit downtown, or a three-hour parking limit during regular business hours between Durham Market Square South to Durham Street.
As council discussed whether to direct staff, Councillor Mike Hinchberger, who is the representative on the BIA board, said he didn’t see the value of consultation.
“Residents in the downtown core shouldn’t have an issue with this, provided an assumption that appropriate parking spots including those for visitors have been provided,” said Hinchberger.
Municipal staff has already consulted with bylaw enforcement officers about the potential move to enforce a time limit.
In their report, in order to fully enforce a three-hour parking limit on Queen Street in Kincardine, bylaw would require a dedicated officer.
Hinchberger continued to say, “Businesses should not have issues with this because the [Business Association] board of management represents the BIA downtown. They conducted some consultation and survey of their businesses that make up the business improvement association and they were in favour.”
He said that a two or three-hour limit would still be more time than most municipalities would give for parking in a downtown area, so the idea that limiting the amount of time people can park would negatively affect business wasn’t founded.