For anyone looking to get fit or to hang out at Port Coquitlam’s rebuilt recreation complex, there’s good news ahead: Parking will continue to be free.
At Tuesday’s finance and budget committee meeting, council members unanimously voted to throw out a consultant’s suggestion to implement pay parking at the new $132-million facility.
The new 205,000-sq. ft. building, when complete in mid-2021, will include three ice rinks, a leisure pool and the Terry Fox Library, among other amenities.
Coun. Glenn Pollock, chair of the city’s healthy communities committee, which oversees rec centre improvements, told The Tri-City News today (Thursday) there’s no point in charging people to park.
“If they’re coming down to our new rec centre to get healthy, we want to encourage that,” he said.
The idea to charge for parking came from consultants Howes Technical Advantage, which the city hired to look at parking design and parking options in and around the new downtown building.
Kristen Dixon, PoCo’s director of engineering and public works, said the committee also discussed pay parking and the number of future stalls needed for West Coast Express (WCE) commuters who leave their vehicles at the rec centre all day.
Currently, they don’t pay anything but that may change once the new complex is open, she said. (Under the city’s current agreement with WCE, it provides 40 stalls for riders at and around the civic facility).
Meanwhile, the consultants also recommend a two-hour time limit for rec centre parking while the city’s consultant for its Downtown Action Plan suggests a cap of three hours for the commercial core.
Dixon said parking time caps have yet to be determined; however, there may be a mix with short-term stalls closer to the entrances plus unrestricted, all-day stalls — for complex users only — further away from the front doors.
The variety of parking limits would allow residents “to come in, have a cup of coffee and socialize in a community gathering place for as long as they want,” she said.
City staff are also calling for bike storage and a carpool area onsite as well as a number of accessible and mobility parking spots, and electrical vehicle charging stations. The builder, Ventana Construction, has signalled up to 10 parking stalls be pre-ducted for EV charging on the northwest side of the new building.
