Courtenay council wants an end put to pay parking at North Island College.
Councillors voted June 19 to send a letter to the college asking them to end the practice of requiring everyone – staff, faculty, visitors – to pay for parking at the Ryan Road campus.
Counc. Rebecca Lennox had proposed the motion.
“If the purpose of NIC to put pay parking in there was to prevent hospital users … that’s out of date now. Pay parking is not allowed at the hospital,” said Counc. Erik Eriksson.
“But if they want to maintain that issue, they should give a pass to the students. I don’t think the students should be paying … for this idea of preventing hospital patients from parking at the college,” he said.
Counc. Manno Theos said “this is another significant issue and I would like to thank Counc. Lennox for bringing it forward. It’s affecting the bottom lines of a lot of college students.
“The way it was brought in and implemented, not done in a way that was completely fair,” he said.
Counc. Doug Hillian noted that at the public hearing the city held on the pay parking issue at the hospital, “the vast majority spoke about the challenges of parking at the college.”
“I think it’s useful to share that information with NIC administration and board,” he said.
Hillian added that he recently received correspondence from a local citizen concerned about the traffic hazards on Ryan Road. There’s no crosswalk or controlled intersection to get across to the college.
“There is no safe walking area to make your way up to the light at Lerwick,” he said, adding that paid parking at the college has also created problems for the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Counc. David Frisch said “there’s a much bigger issue. Historically we haven’t invested in any alternate transportation. We don’t have a safe way to walk or bike to the college.
“It’s quite challenging to take the bus in a timely manner to get to school. This is an intermediary solution that may not solve the real problem,” he said.
Mayor Larry Jangula, though, said most college students live too far away to walk to the campus. And, he noted, that Ryan Road isn’t under the jurisdiction of the city, but the provincial highways ministry.
Council’s move to ask NIC to end pay parking might be too late at this point.
The college board recently received a report on the first year of pay parking operations.
Changes are planned, according to a report from NIC president John Bowman.
As of August 1, the employee rate for annual parking will drop to $300 from $450. And the rate for a semester pass will drop to $100 from $150.
The E-Wallet discount, though, will increase to 66 per cent of the posted rates from 50 per cent.
And previously designated parking for employees will be reinstated, with a few reserved spots for commuting instructors.
The allocation and use of spaces will be monitored to ensure there is sufficient parking for students.
“We expected to learn a great deal in our first year of operations and we did,” Bowman wrote.
Parking revenues for the first fiscal year were $221,673 while expenses were $317,669, which included one-time startup costs of $195,077.
“In accordance with our parking principles, revenues from parking … will primarily be used to fund parking operations including costs associated with maintaining parking lots and roadway infrastructure,” Bowman wrote.
In the future, though, NIC will allocate a portion of parking revenue to support alternate transportation methods and other sustainability measures.
Some of these include:
* bike shelters for 60 bikes for the fall semester. A large bike shelter will include lockers and secure key access while two smaller, converted bike racks are moved closer to buildings.
* continued lobbying of BC Transit for a new bus exchange and improved service to better support both NIC and the new Comox Valle Hospital
* continued lobbying of the Ministry of Transportation for a controlled crosswalk at the Ryan Road crossing
* working to further encourage carpooling and ride sharing as carpool spots are available.
There are 520 parking spots at the Comox Valley campus.