Kelowna grappling with overhaul of parking bylaws

Photo: Castanet/file

The City of Kelowna is pulling data from many different sources to try and determine the best way to deal with parking issues pertaining to new housing developments.

City council has raised numerous concerns over the past several months about current parking bylaws, specifically those around cash-in-lieu of parking, parking reductions and conflicts around off-street and on-street parking around new development projects.

A workshop scheduled for Monday morning will focus on issues pertaining to off-street parking bylaws using data taken from various sources.

Information from ICBC on vehicle ownership shows people living in predominately single-family neighbourhoods further away from town centres tend to own more vehicles than those in more urban areas of the city.

Residents within the Kirschner/Black Mountain area, a predominately single-family area, own an average of 3.7 vehicles per household while the South area, with a similar housing mix but with closer proximity to better transit service, jobs and amenities, own an average of 2.4 vehicles per household.

Residents within the Central area with more multi-family housing own an average of 1.7 vehicles per household.

“When comparing vehicle ownership rates of the six postal code areas against the ratio of single-detached homes to multi-family homes, areas with a higher ratio of multi-family dwellings have lower rates of vehicle ownership, though there are exceptions," a staff report states.

Staff have requested more specific information to do a vehicle ownership analysis across land uses, in areas without on-street parking management and along frequent transit corridors.

That information coincides with empirical data the city uses in determining parking space numbers in new developments.

Those suggest fewer bedrooms mean less demand for additional parking spaces, rental units generate less parking while location such as proximity to jobs, transit, services and amenities impact the need for more, or fewer parking spaces.

The current cash-in-lieu system for parking will also be discussed.

Under the present zoning bylaws developers can make a cash-in-lieu contribution in exchange for fewer parking spaces.

While money has been earmarked for future parkades or surface parking, staff say that is becoming more complex as construction costs rise and land becomes more scarce.

A shift toward supporting active transportation options, increasing transit use and reducing vehicle use and parking demand is an option available to the city.

Council is expected to use council feedback following the workshop to bring back specific recommendations for parking bylaw changes.