It's all about how we move...
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Lethbridge is a divided city.
We are divided East-to-West by the Oldman River Valley, and North-to-South by the Highway and Railway. Many of our residential areas are quite a distance from amenities like grocery stores, local boutiques, or shopping districts. Each new neighbourhood is a maze of long winding streets and coves and cul-de-sacs creating a labyrinth of asphalt. For a long time I thought that in order to get anywhere in Lethbridge, I would have to drive. I was wrong! Last year my husband and I made the decision that it was more financially viable for our family to sell our smaller car and only have one vehicle. We saved a bundle on insurance and registration and I bought an e-bike that allows me to get pretty much anywhere in the city. We live in the west, and I can be often found biking to work in the Warehouse District across the river. I do a lot of shopping in the Downtown Core and 13th St. North, which are home to my favourite boutiques and shops. I can get groceries for a few days on my bike: tetrising my loads into my pannier bags and handlebar basket. Bulkier items need some figuring sometimes, but it's manageable. If the weather is particularly inclement, or I'm feeling particularly lazy and don't want to ride the hill, I will hitch a ride on a City Bus and pop my bike into the racks on the front so I can pedal downtown where it's relatively flat. |
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Not only has bicycle commuting made it easier on our family budget, it's helped me get more exercise and see my community in a completely different way. My 12 minute commute by car was also only lengthened to 25 minutes by bike, and basically eliminates the need for a gym membership/extra time budgeted for workouts, since I am happy with my exercise regime being rolled into my transportation.
What about the cost?
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It's true that putting in biking infrastructure has a cost associated with it. Happily, it's something that can be planned for and implemented as we do road improvements for other reasons: like traffic calming measures on 3rd Avenue South, where many folks fail to stop at the various pedestrian crossings, and pedestrians have a hard time navigating the area in any meaningful way. Even Mayor Magrath Drive, with it's extra wide boulevards and 6-lane width has the opportunity to become cyclist friendly if we simply reduce a lane and replace it with bike infrastructure.
Road design can go a long way to reducing traffic accidents and fatalities as well! We do seem to have a high number of pedestrian-vehicle accidents each year, often making headlines. |
Other cities around the world are dramatically changing their traffic regulations, including Paris which is moving ALL city streets to 30km/hr unless otherwise posted. This brings the rate of speed from 50km/h regularly down to 30km/hr. Slowing traffic through design ensures safe streets for everyone: this means reducing lanes for vehicular traffic and encouraging multimodal transportation as much as possible.
In Bogota, Columbia, the Mayor Penalosa, has encouraged multimodal transportation by banning all car and truck traffic from the streets for a single day each year. Folks are encouraged to walk, bike, or take public transit to go about their day, and fines for personal car use are astronomical. As other cities around the world focus on reclaiming city streets for people, rather than vehicles, Lethbridge has a big opportunity to do the same. The results of these projects are also clear: happier people, a more connected community, a healthier population, and lower tax-payer costs for road maintenance and emergency services because fatal accidents become extremely rare.
In Bogota, Columbia, the Mayor Penalosa, has encouraged multimodal transportation by banning all car and truck traffic from the streets for a single day each year. Folks are encouraged to walk, bike, or take public transit to go about their day, and fines for personal car use are astronomical. As other cities around the world focus on reclaiming city streets for people, rather than vehicles, Lethbridge has a big opportunity to do the same. The results of these projects are also clear: happier people, a more connected community, a healthier population, and lower tax-payer costs for road maintenance and emergency services because fatal accidents become extremely rare.
The Hidden Cost of Parking Minimums
Minimum Parking Requirements are a subject near and dear to my heart as a local business owner. When my brewing company first applied to put in a patio with the city, the City was reluctant to grant us a parking waiver, despite the fact that very few guests actually utilized our parking lot in the preceding two years.
Because of a formula developed in the 1960s, the square-footage of my business determined that my business required 12 parking stalls in our lot. But, our lot is so odd, sandwiched between 2 buildings and crossing a busy sidewalk, and was so awkward to try and get in and out of during busy traffic, that most of our guests simply parked on the street. Because of this requirement, the City was only initially prepared to approve a patio the size of one single parking stall: roughly large enough to sit 6 people.
That wasn't going to work for us. Our aim was to transform our disused parking lot into a beautiful community space! Check out the before and after below.
Because of a formula developed in the 1960s, the square-footage of my business determined that my business required 12 parking stalls in our lot. But, our lot is so odd, sandwiched between 2 buildings and crossing a busy sidewalk, and was so awkward to try and get in and out of during busy traffic, that most of our guests simply parked on the street. Because of this requirement, the City was only initially prepared to approve a patio the size of one single parking stall: roughly large enough to sit 6 people.
That wasn't going to work for us. Our aim was to transform our disused parking lot into a beautiful community space! Check out the before and after below.
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Another local business woman knew I have been involved in the Municipal Planning Commission and approached me for advice for her business expansion: a gymnastics studio on the north-side that needed to take over the neighbouring bay to allow her students to practice for competitions. The City initially refused the expansion permit based on a lack of parking, despite the students at the gymnastics usually being under the age of 15 (not driving!) and parents usually dropping their kids off for the 3-4 hour practice sessions and then going and running errands.
This business owner even had letters from her neighbours in the same structure stating parking wasn't an issue.
We had to fight tooth and nail to get the issue reviewed and eventually she won a 3-year grace period to do the expansion, but her parking woes aren't over yet. The City can repeal her permissions at the end of the 3 years and her business will either have to move, or something will need to be done about the parking despite the fact that, even at peak class times, there are still only 2 out of the 6 available stalls in use (the instructors' cars).
Essentially: Parking Minimums are an overblown and inefficient effort by past generations to deal with the explosion of personal car ownership. The formula used to calculate parking requirements for businesses is based on peak occupancy, not average occupancy, which is why our mall parking lot is often 2/3rds empty on most days.
This business owner even had letters from her neighbours in the same structure stating parking wasn't an issue.
We had to fight tooth and nail to get the issue reviewed and eventually she won a 3-year grace period to do the expansion, but her parking woes aren't over yet. The City can repeal her permissions at the end of the 3 years and her business will either have to move, or something will need to be done about the parking despite the fact that, even at peak class times, there are still only 2 out of the 6 available stalls in use (the instructors' cars).
Essentially: Parking Minimums are an overblown and inefficient effort by past generations to deal with the explosion of personal car ownership. The formula used to calculate parking requirements for businesses is based on peak occupancy, not average occupancy, which is why our mall parking lot is often 2/3rds empty on most days.
Other important information about Parking Minimums:
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Through studies by Dr. Donald Shoup out of the University of California, we know that an overabundance of parking has a few effects on it's community:
1. Abundant free parking results in more trip generations than if parking was restricted. What does this mean? Well, have you ever gone to the store to grab something and returned home only to remember that you forgot another item and had to go back? Annoying right? I've done this a lot. The only time I don't do this is when I'm biking, because my trips are typically more carefully planned, and I'm more focused on the task. Shoup's research has proven through various studies over the past 40 years, that an overabundance of free parking causes excess trip generation in a community. This means our roads get more congested as folks are utilizing personal vehicles more frequently than they might otherwise do. |
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2. Abundant free parking ISN'T free.
The cost to maintain parking lots comes from somewhere: usually from the businesses required to provide the parking. As a small business owner, the 7 remaining spots in our parking lot are, most of the time, wasted space! Most folks simply park on the street or, our favourite, bike or walk to the brewery, so the additional stalls we are forced to maintain go unused 98% of the time. The other 2% of the time they're usually housing plants from our lovely neighbours.
It is far more economical and sustainable to allow businesses to determine their own parking needs, and allow underutilized spaces like vast parking lots to become hubs for economic innovation by installing temporary or small pop-up businesses! These are becoming very popular in other cities and help contribute to density creating vibrancy in otherwise underutilized spaces.
3. Lethbridge has LOTS of parking
In 2020 presented to City Council asking them to consider repealing our Minimum Parking Requirements and as part of my presentation I showed them the below image:
The cost to maintain parking lots comes from somewhere: usually from the businesses required to provide the parking. As a small business owner, the 7 remaining spots in our parking lot are, most of the time, wasted space! Most folks simply park on the street or, our favourite, bike or walk to the brewery, so the additional stalls we are forced to maintain go unused 98% of the time. The other 2% of the time they're usually housing plants from our lovely neighbours.
It is far more economical and sustainable to allow businesses to determine their own parking needs, and allow underutilized spaces like vast parking lots to become hubs for economic innovation by installing temporary or small pop-up businesses! These are becoming very popular in other cities and help contribute to density creating vibrancy in otherwise underutilized spaces.
3. Lethbridge has LOTS of parking
In 2020 presented to City Council asking them to consider repealing our Minimum Parking Requirements and as part of my presentation I showed them the below image:
Highlighted in Red are all the available surface parking lots available in the downtown. Look at all that space! This doesn't even include all the available street parking in the area, which you can also clearly see. Lethbridge doesn't actually lack for parking, we lack for density and proper space utilization. Let's work on de-paving our city and creating a more robust, people-friendly space. It's time we stop building for cars.
