Grey Highlands council still wants to explore the possibility of introducing parking time limits in downtown Markdale and Flesherton.
At its meeting on Nov. 6, council turned down a staff recommendation to leave the downtown parking status quo in place. Instead, council asked for a report from staff about implementing a time limit on parking and appropriate signage to convey the new rules.
In August, council requested a staff report about downtown parking after hearing concerns that local residents and business employees were using the limited parking spaces in the downtown areas.
Staff delivered a report that outlined a number of parking options for council to consider. Options included:
- A time limit on parking with road signs displaying the rules
- Paid parking with parking metres
- Paid parking with a pay and display system - when a driver pays for parking at a central location and display a ticket on their dash
- Disk parking - the driver uses a reusable parking disk or clock-disc to indicate the time the vehicle was parked, which is displayed on the dashboard, available for enforcement officers to inspect
- Coupon parking - The driver has to purchase a book of coupons in advance. When parking, they are to tear off a coupon and fill out the current date and time. This is placed on the dashboard for enforcement offers to inspect, and can only be used once
- Pay by phone for parking
Full details of the options can be found in the report here. Staff recommended keeping the parking status quo (no time limits and free parking) in place. They report noted that Grey Highlands has complaint-based bylaw enforcement through a contract with a third party. Enforcing parking limits would require changes to the contract. In addition, in the 2025 budget, staff are proposing to pave an area in Flesherton adjacent to the Flesherton Rear Lane for parking purposes and believe this will alleviate the parking issues.
Members of council, however, said they are not satisfied with the present parking situation.
“I don’t think the status quo is working, which is why we came up with this request to begin with,” said Coun. Joel Loughead.
Coun. Paul Allen moved a motion, which was approved by council, requesting a staff report on the implementation of a parking time limit and signage in the two downtown cores one block in each direction from the traffic lights.
“Yes, it’s going to be hard to enforce, but sometimes signage makes people comply,” said Allen.
