As cars will continue to be part of the traffic mix in downtown Victoria for the foreseeable future, the city should look seriously at building more parkades. But any new structures should be bright and attractive, designed to complement the downtown ambience, as well as being functional.
Victoria is a victim of its own parking-policy success. The parking plan introduced in 2014 lowered parkade rates, made the first hour free, tightened security and improved customer service. The idea was to lure people into parkades to increase access to on-street parking, and it has worked. The city鈥檚 five parkades are nearing capacity between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays. Parkade transactions in 2015 increased by 46 per cent over 2014.
At the same time, however, street-parking transactions remained relatively unchanged, with a decrease of less than two per cent. A likely factor is the recent loss of three downtown surface parking lots that were taken over by construction projects.
We don鈥檛 need more one-level surface parking lots. That would be a waste of space in a downtown where space is at a premium. Most such parking lots, though, are temporary 鈥� pieces of land waiting for something to happen. They are not long-term solutions.
And a new parkade should not be on the waterfront. In fact, the existing parking lot that sits next to the water off Wharf Street should be developed into something more in keeping with its surroundings.
A parkade is a huge, solid structure, so it鈥檚 important to ensure it is attractive. We don鈥檛 want something that will become a street-killer, a drab monolith reminiscent of Soviet-era housing projects.
Making parking structures multi-functional is one way to ensure they don鈥檛 detract from their neighbourhoods. An excellent example of this is the parking garage that is under the central branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library.
Another suggestion would be to include stores on the ground level, with upper storeys dedicated to parking.
Precedents abound for beautiful parkades. Car Park One at the corporate campus of Chesapeake Energy in Oklahoma City won awards for its design. Architects used light and colour to create a structure that is not only attractive, but is easy to navigate because of the colour scheme. The glass exterior of the Parkhaus Engelenschanze in Stuttgart, Germany, makes it a glittering car palace.
Bright colours, sassy interior design elements and streamlined shapes make parking structures in cities throughout the world eye-catching instead of eyesores. Architects would leap at the chance to be creative, and innovative designs don鈥檛 have to drive up the cost.
Ever a thorny issue for municipal governments, parking can be a no-win situation: People become annoyed when they can鈥檛 find a parking spot, and irate when they get a ticket for parking too long. It鈥檚 a challenge to maintain a fair turnover in parking spaces while allowing people enough time to conduct their business.
Parking in Victoria鈥檚 downtown has never been as difficult as in many other cities, but that didn鈥檛 stop complaints about such things as overly aggressive bylaw enforcement and too-short parking times at meters.
By tackling the challenges incrementally, rather than trying to make sweeping changes all at once, the city was able to be responsive and effective.
Victoria is working to makes its downtown more welcoming to cyclists, pedestrians and mass transit, and parkades can be part of that, as they reduce the churn on the streets caused by motorists looking for on-street parking.
And it鈥檚 better to keep ahead of parking needs, than to wait to catch up.
