The Blue Mountains council has approved a new digital-only parking pass system.
At its meeting on Dec. 16, council voted 3-2 in favour of a staff report that recommended a new completely digital parking pass registration system.
Councillors Paula Hope, Shawn McKinlay and June Porter voted in favour of the new system, while Mayor Andrea Matrosovs and Coun. Alex Maxwell were opposed. Coun. Gail Ardiel was absent. Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon had declared a conflict on the matter.
The new system means that residents who wish to park in paid parking areas will have to go online and register their vehicle information in order to be in the system to avoid getting a parking ticket.
Veterans and those with accessibility passes will be able to park for free. Additionally, the system will allow local residents to register vehicles for family and friends for $5 a day for a maximum of 14 days.
Council had delayed approval of the new system at its meeting on Dec. 2 and requested more information from staff on the matter.
The key issue for council was how the registration of friends and family would work. A year ago, the town provided physical parking passes for those interested in purchasing them for friends and family. That system will end in 2025 in favour of digital registration.
However, staff noted that registration of vehicles for family and friends required a verification process done by town staff. Online registrations done after hours or on the weekend would have a time delay before being approved.
This led to concerns from council that "spontaneous" registrations for family and friends wouldn’t be possible. Coun. Shawn McKinlay asked if it was possible for those registering family and friends vehicles after hours to print out an application form or some form of proof that had registered as a way to avoid them getting tickets.
Town staff said such a system was possible, but pointed out that having parking bylaw enforcement officers looking for physical passes in vehicles was where the town lost its efficiencies with the new system.
Porter then asked for staff to take a look at what options would be available to alleviate the time lag between friends and family passes being entered online and approved. Porter said it was important to find a way to accommodate visitors to the community who might have car seats for small children or those with mobility issues who might be visiting the community and want to park their own car.
“I’d like to know what the options are,” said Porter.
At that point, Ryan Gibbons, director of community services, volunteered to take responsibility to review such instances to ensure visitors in those situations are taken care of by the town.
Gibbons said he didn’t anticipate a “large volume of people” in those circumstances and said it would be a relatively easy system for staff to implement.
“That would be the most efficient way to move forward,” said Gibbons.
Hope praised Gibbons for stepping forward on the matter.
“Managers should manage. I don’t think council should get too much into the weeds and I think that we are,” said Hope.