"Business Friendly” Improvements to the Town's Parking Requirements
Council recently approved a number of “business friendly” improvements to the Town’s zoning bylaw parking requirements:
Reduced requirements for licensed establishments
Recognizing that pub and bar patrons are placing more reliance nowadays on car pooling and designated drivers, licensed establishments now only have to provide 1 parking stall per 4 seats instead of 1 stall per 3 seats as previously, i.e. a 33% reduction.
Less parking spaces required for Downtown businesses
Previously businesses in the Downtown Commercial C1 zone had to provide 2 parking stalls up front for the first 55m2 of floor space and 1 stall for every additional 55m2. Now, simply, only I space is required for each 50m2.
Easier to change business uses
The reduced C1 parking requirement is extended to nearly all Downtown businesses making it easier to change uses without having to increase stall numbers including, for the first time, restaurants.
Reduced cash payments
Even though our parking requirements are reduced some new businesses may still be unable to provide sufficient stalls either on-site or on a nearby private parking lot; so the required cash-in-lieu contribution for public parking has been significantly reduced from $10,000 to $3,000 per stall, i.e. one of the lowest rates in the Okanagan.
