At its Aug. 14 meeting, Cumberland council voted to decline the opportunity to have the village office host a Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia (SPARC BC) parking permit point of service.
SPARC BC is a provincial program that issues accessible parking permits to residents with health and activity limitations in British Columbia.
A SPARC BC point of service is a local office where residents can apply for accessible parking permits in-person instead of online. (Online applications and renewals can take two weeks to be processed, while in-person permits can be received immediately).
Council’s reason for declining the opportunity was that the village office still needs accessibility upgrades: The doorway needs to be wider, the ramp leading up to the building should be less steep, the landing area at the top of the ramp into the office has too small a turning radius, and the service counter is not wheelchair-accessible.
“I think once we make some changes to the accessibility of our office we could re-look at this but it doesn’t seem like this is right for us at the time,” said Coun. Sean Sullivan, who sits on the accessibility committee.
Council also declined because it is hard to tell if revenue from the fees collected would cover the administrative costs of hosting a SPARC BC point of service.
The Village would retain 50 per cent of the fees collected.
“The current fee is $23 per permit. It is unknown how many people would come to the village office for permits,” reads Village of Cumberland deputy corporate officer Adriana Proton’s report to council on the matter.
According to Proton’s report, there are currently no accessible SPARC BC parking permit points of service in the Comox Valley.
This is despite a high proportion of residents being eligible for such permits — according to 2011 census data, there were more than 17,000 people with health and activity limitations living in the broader Comox Valley Regional District.
Council recommends SPARC BC contact the other local governments to try and establish a point of service location elsewhere in the Comox Valley.
The only current point of service locations on Vancouver Island are in Nanaimo and Victoria.