During a June special council meeting, Nelson city councillors voted in favour of moving away from monthly parking permits at the parkade to day parking only, effective July 1.
The decision was made to increase utilization at the parkade after staff revealed it is roughly 50 per cent vacant on any given day of the week under the current monthly permit model.
There are 191 stalls in the parkade, with 156 allocated for monthly permit holders and the remaining 35 open for day use.
Under the new day rate model, all parking stalls will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at a daily rate of $8 or $2 per hour, up from $1.50 to align with street parking rates.
Additionally, the city will be testing out its new mobile pay system in the parkade this summer.
The city has signed an agreement with Mobile Parking Payment Solutions to offer the payment system, which is a well-known mobile payment app used in other BC municipalities.
Aimee Mooney, Deputy Chief Financial Officer, told council that staff is working towards having the mobile payment option up and running in the parkade in July and will work out any bugs before expanding the system to street parking.
Once the system is rolled out citywide, Mooney said each parking metre will have a number that residents input in the app to pay their parking fees, although they don’t have to, as the metres will still accept change once the mobile system is rolled out.
Mooney couldn’t provide a timeline on when residents can expect to see a citywide rollout of the new system but said staff are working towards having everything ready for early August.
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