The Blue Mountains council is bringing back physical parking passes for residents who want one.
Council made the decision at its committee of the whole meeting on April 29. The change comes after council heard numerous complaints from local residents about the town’s decision to switch to a full digital parking pass registration system.
Since paid parking was introduced in the town, local residents received two physical parking passes in the mail each year that could be affixed to the rear view mirror of vehicles. The passes allowed local residents to park in paid parking lots and areas for free. Non-residents are required to pay for parking.
This year, the town discontinued the physical passes in favour of a digital-only system. Residents could register their license plates online at the town’s website or attend the Town Hall in Thornbury to provide their license plate information. The plate information is entered into the town’s system to prevent parking tickets from being issued to local residents.
The new system prompted complaints from the public about the loss of flexibility the physical passes provided. Concerns were also raised by some residents about being required to provide personal vehicle information to the town.
During the discussion, town staff explained that the only information the town records in the parking registration process is a vehicle’s license plate information. Information used to determine proof of vehicle ownership and proof of local residency would not be saved on town servers.
In a report, staff presented council with four options for the parking program: implement a hybrid system that would provide local residents with a physical parking pass, continue with the digital-only system, end paid parking altogether or eliminate free parking for local residents and require everybody to pay.
Members of council lined up in favour of the hybrid system.
“I do feel we should have that option available,” said Coun. June Porter.
Coun. Alex Maxwell said it was a question of fairness.
“The hybrid system speaks to people in the municipality who prefer a piece of paper. We are a municipality and we need to address everybody in it in a mindful manner,” he said.
Coun. Paula Hope said using the hybrid system would give the town more information on the matter.
“It will be interesting to see how many people take us up on this. It will give us data for future decisions on parking,” said Hope.
Council voted 6-0 in favour of the hybrid system, with Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon declaring a conflict on the issue.
