The City of Pickering yesterday announced that it is inviting residents, businesses, and visitors to participate in an end-of-season review, following the first year of its Waterfront Parking Permit Program.
The hourly parking rate for waterfront parking lots, and on-street parking areas is $5 per hour.
The announcement and implementation has been widely debated on social media.
“Public input and lessons learned will help assess the effectiveness of the program, and assist staff in preparing recommendations for improvements in 2023. Staff will report findings and recommendations to council prior to the start of next year’s program,” said a city statement.
Pickering followed the Town of Ajax, first launching the program in May 2022. It said the aim was to mitigate parking issues at its popular waterfront destinations, as they continue to welcome visitors from throughout the region, and beyond.
The city said extensive community engagement and staff recommendations helped shape the development of the new program, which was approved by council in November 2021 (Report to Executive Committee BYL 02-21).
The program included paid permit parking at all city waterfront parking lots, as well as prohibited parking on one side of waterfront-area streets, and mandated on-street permit parking for the opposite side of waterfront-area streets, effective May 1st to October 1, 2022.
Pickering residents were eligible to receive a no-charge permit to park at waterfront parking lots or where on-street parking is allowed. Free parking was also provided to accessible parking permit holders and vehicles bearing veterans’ licence plates.
View affected waterfront areas, rates, permit registration instructions, FAQ, and other program details at pickering.ca/WaterfrontParking.
Visit LetsTalkPickering.ca/WaterfrontParking to participate in the review process. The survey closes on November 30th, 2022.