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Passing up paid parking on lakeshore

Plans to bring paid parking to Penticton’s famous Lakeshore Drive are being dropped
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City staff are recommending the City of Penticton give up the idea of paid parking along the Okanagan lakeshore. (File photo)

If Penticton city council accepts the staff recommendations this afternoon, parking will continue to be free on Lakeshore and Riverside Drives.

Earlier this year, city hall suspended plans to bring in parking changes that would have seen paid parking along the popular Okanagan Lake beach cruise. All that remains of that plan is a recommendation that parking on Lakeshore between Winnipeg and Power Streets be restricted to a three-hour time limit from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday.

Related: City slows down parking strategy

According to a survey conducted this summer, the majority of respondents said the city shouldn’t expand pay parking to the Lakeshore or Riverside — 64 per cent opposed it, and only 10 per cent were in support. The remaining 26 per cent only supported pay parking with restrictions like residents being exempt.

“Those that opposed charging for parking along the lakeshore expressed concerns about affordability for vulnerable populations and negative impressions on tourists,” reads the staff report.

The Parking Engagement Update also recommends the city reconfigure parking throughout Downtown Penticton to improve availability and utilization of existing parking to reduce challenges for residents and employees of downtown businesses.

“For the most part, customers of the downtown are well served by the available programs as they always or usually find parking close to their destination,” the report concludes.


Steve Kidd
Senior reporter, Penticton Western News
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