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Northern Bruce Peninsula made just over $100,000 in parking revenue from the past season.
Council received an update to the paid parking program during a meeting on Nov. 27, which detailed how each area with paid parking operated.
A report from Chief Bylaw Officer Carol Hopkins says the current system helps reduce the impact of parking on historic sites by creating a smaller, more organized parking area.
“In addition, having an attendant monitoring the reservation and paid parking areas provides information such as reservations, parking times, and rates. This year, parking enforcement staff have been equipped with counters to monitor the number of vehicles redirected from high-traffic areas such as McCurdy, Little Cove, Big Tub Road, Dorcas Bay, Grant Watson and Dunks Bay. This will give council numbers of vehicles redirected from already-at-capacity lots,” says the report.
Currently there are paid parking areas in Tobermory, Big Tub Road, The Gap, Grant Watson Drive, Dunks Bay, Little Cove, Dorcas Bay Road, Dyers Bay, Borchardt Road, Carter Road, Lion’s Head, and McCurdy Drive.
The report details the various parking situations at each of the sites, with almost all being recommended to stay as they are.
For McCurdy Drive, however, with the implementation of reservation parking in 2021 of four and eight-hour time slots, the total number of visitors to this space between May 15 and Oct. 15 was 23,347, with 7,774 in total for reservations, and 6,121 vehicles being redirected.
“The number one concern residents expressed this year was traffic speed due to the vehicle being turned around and coming back to town to find a parking space,” says the report.
To address these concerns, peak times during July and August on Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays, Moore Street was blocked off at Joseph to redirect the overflow traffic to alternate parking areas within Lion’s Head.
It’s recommended during these peak times a parking attendance be moved to Moore and Joseph Street to redirect overflow vehicles more effectively.