Calgary plans to pave pothole-ridden Edworthy Park lot, then charge for parking
The City of Calgary plans to pave the north parking lot at Edworthy Park at the end of Shaganappi Trail N.W., which it says is plagued with potholes, drainage issues and dust.
And to recoup the cost — and help manage growing demand — the city also plans to start charging to park in the lot.
"We always design it into a new lot, but, and we certainly want to be upfront with Calgarians that the payment is something that is potential for the site for sure, but we would not introduce anything until we've actually constructed anything," said Robb Whyte, coordinator of planning and operations for Calgary Parking.
He says the land recently went from being managed by the City of Calgary's parks department to its mobility unit, which includes Calgary Parking.
That change in management, as well as ongoing maintenance costs and increased usage, put these plans and a development permit in motion. It includes a resurfaced lot, designated parking spaces, better drainage, new lighting, EV chargers and a machine to charge for parking — all of which Whyte says would cost roughly $1 million.
Whyte says the most likely scenario would be to allow a period of free parking — two hours for example — and then charge a fee after that, which he says could amount to about a dollar per hour.
He says that revenue would help recover some of the city's costs and also ensure people are using the lot appropriately.
"People who use the park for a long time, whether they're commuting or parking and walking into the neighbourhood, that certainly adds to the amount of parking demand that we have in the area, and pricing is one of these tools that we can use help to address that," said Whyte.
Cathy Jacobs, who owns Angels Cafe in Edworthy park, says it's a rough ride reaching her cafe, and on a busy day people park haphazardly and block traffic. So she welcomes the prospect of a paved lot with designated spots. But she disagrees with the idea of charging people to use it.
Instead, she has suggested three hours of free parking.
"Because I get a lot of seniors that do walking down here … and by the time they make it back ... I just have a hard time with knowing that there's people paying to go to a park."
Greenspace concerns
Nearby residents say they are concerned about the potential loss of greenspace, if the city proceeds with another part of its development permit application.
It includes plans to resurface park land east of the main lot, closer to the Point McKay condos, to create overflow parking.
"We have bought here because of the beauty of this landscape area, we're looking at the river, and now with these plans it doesn't make sense, " said Point McKay resident Luis Narvaez.
But Whyte says those plans are only a design exercise and he doesn't expect to construct an overflow parking lot for several years, if at all, depending on demand.
"We would have to see a significant increase in parking demand to be able to justify adding the extra stalls," said Whyte.
For now Whyte says the city plans to re-seed the area, which was torn up last year for some underground utility work.
Still, these future plans are unsettling to Narvaez, who says residents were caught off guard.
"It will be great if they come forward and be clear, tell us what is the present project ... and whatever is future. Let's do it properly," said Narvaez.
Information sessions
Whyte says the city has been meeting with residents in the area over the past couple of weeks.
And he says city staff are hosting information and feedback sessions at the park and in the Parkdale community in the coming weeks:
May 5: 7:30-9:30 a.m. at the park, east of Angel's Cafe.
May 9: 5-7:00 p.m. at the park, east of Angel's Cafe.
May 28: 5-7:00 p.m. at the Nifty Fifties Seniors Association at Parkdale Community Hall.
"We certainly want to reassure everyone it's actually just on the existing footprint and we're not looking at removing parts of the river or Edworthy Park, which at a very quick glance, it might look like," said Whyte.
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