Kitchener reverses course on parking lot fee changes after residents speak up

The City of Kitchener is reversing course on some parking fees at one downtown lot after nearby condo residents spoke out against the change.

At a meeting Monday night, council agreed to reinstate free parking at the Bramm Street Yards after 5 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays, as well as all day Sunday.

"We've agreed that if we took the parking fees back to where they were before Jan. 1, 2024, that should satisfy the expectations of the residents," said Ward 9 Councillor Debbie Chapman on Monday.

The same parking hours were free at the lot during the pandemic response due to funding from the province. The city, however, decided to resume parking fees in 2024.

In February, residents at the Garment Street condominium told CTV News the city went back to charging people and stated it was keeping visitors and shoppers away from the area.

“Our daughter, for instance, was having groups of friends over and they just decided instead they'll just meet at somebody else’s house,” explained Terry Sturtevant, one of the condominium residents.

She also argues the fee increase is bad for local businesses.

“If you're going to get takeout from a restaurant here where you have to pay while you go in to pick up your takeout or risk getting ticketed, or you can go a few blocks away and get takeout from a restaurant that has free parking, that's where you're going to go.”

Reaction from council

At Monday night's meeting, Ward 1 councillor Scott Davey said the city is in a surplus overall.

Parking, meanwhile, has a $1.6 million deficit.

"I think we are due for a review [to parking lot fee rules] because a lot of things are changing, both in the downtown and in the area of Grand River Hospital as well, which is really where we have a majority of our parking," explained Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic. "The city can't be in the business of providing parking for the condos and residences that are getting built."

"I don’t know what’s going to come out of their review,” Chapman said Tuesday. “It could be that we still have three different schedules or it may come out that they decide to coordinate them better in a different way so people know what to expect."

What’s next

A review of the city's parking rate structure is set to take place this year and will return to council for further debate.

Sturtevant said if this results in having to pay at all downtown lots, that won’t be good for both condos and businesses.

“If the message the city wants to give people is that downtown is a good place to hang out, if everything has that friction, it's going to make it difficult,” she said. “Getting rid of evening and weekend free parking will affect all the downtown businesses and the downtown condos and stuff. So I think it will affect a much bigger group of people if that's what they decide to do.”