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City of Powell River reviews parking fees

Logic for rate increase flawed, says chief administrative officer
Pat Duncan
FREE PARKING: Powell River boater Pat Duncan said the city may be losing out on an opportunity to sell annual moorage at the North Harbour. The boater discovered that at private and public marinas in Powell River and the surrounding area, boaters are given free parking passes with their moorage, though North Harbour customers are charged $100 per year. Chris Bolster photo

City of Powell River staff will be taking another look at its pay parking policy within the city, particularly at the North Harbour.

The issue came up at the Thursday, January 28, finance committee meeting when councillor Jim Palm advocated for an examination of the city bylaw.

“I don’t want to waste our time worrying about a 30 per cent increase. What I want to do is roll back the parking fee and give free parking to anybody who has annual moorage in our harbour, so we’re the same as everywhere else,” said Palm. “It’s just a simple case of fairness.”

City council adopted Parking Lot Amendment Bylaw 2404, 2015 at its regular meeting on Thursday, June 4, 2015. The amended bylaw increased annual parking permit fees from $75 to $100 at Powell River Airport, Mowat Bay and the north and south harbours.

Mac Fraser, chief administrative officer for the city, cautioned it was “quite a leap” to justify giving free annual parking simply because parking fees had been increased. He added there are far more boat spaces in the north harbour marina than there are parking spaces in the marina’s lot.

Fraser told the committee there had been “a flaw in the logic” for the increase from $75 to $100. The increase was based on a presentation in April 2015 from former chief financial officer Shehzad Somji, who justified the increase based on what he saw private marinas charging for annual parking.

Palm said the rationale in the past was that if the private sector was doing it, then it was fine for the city.

“Since then, having done our homework and talking to several people, that is not the case,” said Palm.

Resident Pat Duncan, who recently moved to Powell River, contacted council after he discovered public and private marinas provide at least one free parking pass with prepaid annual moorage fees.

“When I started looking at this issue, I was not looking for free parking,” said Duncan, but, he added, there is “a possibility free parking with annual moorage may give boaters more incentive to pay annually.”

Duncan followed up with one of the owners of Powell Lake Marina and Beach Gardens Marina and Resort to find out what their policies were for annual parking passes for moorage holders. He discovered they both provide free parking passes with the purchase of annual moorage.

Gord Jones, past-president of the now defunct North Harbour Boaters Association, agrees with Duncan’s sentiment and has told council there are also historical reasons for council to pay attention to Duncan’s complaint.

“The annual parking fee for the North Harbour has, since its inception, been an irritant and viewed as grossly unfair to moorage contract holders,” stated Jones in his January 27 letter to councillors Rob Southcott and Russell Brewer. “It became more so after the harbour was rebuilt in 2010.”

Jones explained the cost of rebuilding the harbour parking lot and boat-launch ramp was borne by the harbour-reconfiguration project and paid for by moorage fees.

By charging boaters with annual moorage to also pay for parking, he suggests the city is double dipping.

Jones added income from the sale of parking passes from the meters in the lot goes into the city’s general revenue and not to the harbour specifically.

He also pointed out the lease payments to the province for use of the foreshore parking lot were also paid for through moorage fees and a significant portion of the leased area is occupied by the boat-launch ramp and parking reserved for BC Ferries patrons, which he suspects does not contribute to the lease payments either.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable for those of us who pay moorage to feel ill-used when charged a further $100 on a lot we paid to build, on which we pay rent and which others use at no cost,” said Jones.

Fraser told the committee city staff would take another look at the bylaw and propose some options at a future committee meeting.