Changes are coming to parking regulations in Coquitlam's City Centre.
The city is expanding its on-street pay parking to include Glen Drive, The High Street and Town Centre Boulevard. It will also be extending the parking duration along Pinetree Way north of Guildford Way from two hours to four hours.
Dan Mooney, the city's manager of roads and traffic operations, said since the city put a two-hour limit in place last year, the number of cars that park along Pinetree has decreased.
Staff believe that increasing the amount of time a person can park in that area will help the city achieve its goal of 85% utilization for on-street parking.
"We try and reflect the surrounding land uses," he said. "We also recognize that there are a variety of customers. We try and hit the sweet spot - 15% vacancy."
The changes outlined in a staff report that council voted unanimously in favour of Monday night will also help the city's parking operations achieve revenue neutrality. Last year, the city implemented a pay parking strategy in an effort to recoup some of the costs of maintenance and parking enforcement.
"The modifications to the pay parking system made last fall have resulted in some improvements to the financial condition of the parking operations. However, the system is not quite yet running at a revenue-neutral position," said a city staff report.
Mooney added with the new meters, staff have a better idea of when and for how long drivers are parking.
