Study finds parking in Oshawa “sufficient”

By Courtney Bachar/The Oshawa Express/LJI Reporter

The results are in from Phase 1 of the Oshawa Parking Study and some councillors are concerned with the findings.

Preliminary findings from Phase 1 of the study suggests parking is “sufficient to meet the existing parking needs” in the city, says IBI Group at a recent special joint committee meeting with development and community services. IBI Group was hired by the city in November 2018 to conduct the study.

Furthermore, based on a 10-year projection, the group also found the parking supply “sufficient to meet the future parking needs” as well.

However, Ward 2 City Councillor Jane Hurst questioned the credibility of the data based on when it was collected, noting recent changes and announcements that would potentially change the results of the study.

According to Peter Richards, director of transportation engineering at IBI Group and project manager for the study, most of the work was completed through 2019.

“It would appear to me that the analysis as of to date is already outdated – through no one’s fault – we’ve had so many changes, least of which is the COVID-19 impact,” says Hurst, noting a recent announcement from Metrolinx and Durham Region Transit, which she says could potentially cost the city a significant amount of on-street parking.

Hurst also noted the potential for future development, such as the vacant land on Bruce Street.

“That’s all been pegged for development for quite some time, and high density development, so that, plus the very recent and profound investment in Durham Region of our post-secondary institutions is quite concerning that it’s not reflected in this. I dare say the analysis of today is already outdated,” she adds.

The study focused on five key areas, including assessing existing and future municipal parking operations in downtown, hearing from stakeholders and the public, creating a citywide parking policy framework, reviewing the city’s residential parking requirements citywide, and reviewing financial operations and investigating the potential for a cash-in-lieu of parking program.

Richards says public and stakeholder consultation was a key factor in Phase 1. A public information session was held in April 2019 to collect feedback on existing parking operations, known issues and desired outcomes. Phase 1 also included an online survey and map-based consultation tool, and several common themes and issues were identified.

According to consultation activities, overnight on-street parking in residential neighbourhoods is a challenge, particularly in high-density areas; the existing two-parking space per dwelling unit standard is not sufficient in some residential areas; parking standards should vary based on the city zone; on-street parking downtown should offer greater flexibility for duration and payment methods; support for subsidizing municipal parking is split; improvements to transit service and cycling facilities may reduce dependency on driving and parking; and finding available on-street parking in the urban growth centre and in some residential neighbourhoods can be challenging.

According to Atilla Hertel, transportation engineer with IBI Group, when it comes to existing parking operations in downtown Oshawa, the maximum utilization is about 85 to 90 per cent, which represents the point where drivers begin to experience some difficulty in finding an available parking space.

According to the study, during peak occupancy, Oshawa’s downtown sits at about 61 per cent, “indicating there is some available capacity,” says Hertel.

He notes there were some individual parking facilities, lots and on-street segments that were operating near capacity, but says, “This is to be expected,” adding some locations are more popular than others and there are always available parking opportunities nearby.

“Based on these findings, we concluded that Oshawa’s existing parking system was sufficient to meet the existing parking needs,” he says.

In terms of the future parking system, Hertel says it’s projected that parking demand will grow a little bit by 2031 resulting of a little over 70 per cent, noting that while some users may experience difficulty finding a parking space in some of the more popular locations, parking opportunities remain available nearby.

“Based on these findings we concluded that the future parking supply is sufficient to meet the future parking needs as well,” Hertel adds.

However, Hurst noted numerous complaints about current parking capacity in residential areas.

“Whether it’s townhouses, back-to-back, stacked, whatever, there’s never enough parking,” she says.

Ward 1 Regional and City Councillor John Neal said parking in residential areas has been in issue for years and is looking for some improvements to take place.

“These townhouses and developments that are coming forward in Ward 1… none of them have the right parking and there’s going to be complaints,” he says.

Ward 5 Regional and City Councillor Brian Nicholson says lack of parking at senior’s apartments and retirement homes is also a concern.

“Seniors are far more active today than they’ve ever been and they require parking access whether they’re in a retirement home or seniors apartment,” he says.

The study also looked at curbside decision making framework, in which Hertel says the intent of which is to help the city prioritize and fairly allocate the limited curbside space to the different users, as well as curbside spaces used for parking, transit, cycling, pickup and drop off, and loading.

“There needs to be a fair way of allocating that space,” Hertel continues.

In terms of demand surrounding special events at facilities like the Tribute Communities Centre, Hertel says this creates a localized peak in parking demand outside of local business hour peaks, but on-street parking surrounding the arena was operating near capacity, while parkades nearby had plenty of available space.

He says the intent is to have event-goers park off-street so on-street parking spaces can remain available for the short-term parking users of the local establishments.

To facilitate this, the study is recommending the maximum duration for on-street parking be two hours instead of three.

“This will push the event goers to the off-street facilities as two hours is typically too short to attend special events but the two hours are still sufficient to serve most short-time uses,” Hertel explains.

However, Ward 5 City Councillor John Gray says he could see this change being “very problematic” for some community members.

Also included in the study was developing a parking policy framework, which looks at updating the city’s parking policy and standards, which Hertel says includes updating the city’s zoning bylaw parking standards and developing parking strategies for specific locations. The requirements, which updates the city’s existing residential parking requirements is split into two categories – intensification areas such as the urban growth centre, transportation hubs and the intensification corridors, and the rest of the city.

As a general trend, Hertel says the parking requirements in intensification areas is lower than the rest of the city due to these areas having higher development densities and alternate modes of transportation.

Richards says transportation demand management strategies were also developed, which influence travel behaviour by improving and promoting modes of transportation alternative to single occupancy vehicles.

The study outlines five strategies, including bicycle parking, car share (hourly car rental), shared parking, unbundled parking (the option to rent a space instead of forcing a unit to come with one), and off-site parking.

With these strategies, Richards says the city can allow developers to apply to grant them a relief in parking and prevent them from building and the city from having an oversupply of parking.

The next steps of the Oshawa Parking Study will be to complete Phase 2 of the public and stakeholder consultation, which includes a virtual public information centre, an online public survey and meetings with other stakeholder groups.

The virtual public information centre will be held on Oct. 15 beginning at 6:30 p.m. on the city’s website at www.oshawa.ca.

Beginning Oct. 1, community members can also complete an online feedback form on the city’s website. Feedback will be received up to and including 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29 and will be considered in the final recommendations to council.

A final report of the Oshawa Parking Study is expected to be presented to council in December.