CANMORE – An increase in paid parking could be coming later this year in Canmore.
The Town’s finance committee recommended increasing paid parking rates to $5 an hour during the peak season of May 15 to Oct. 15. The existing rates are $3 an hour Monday to Thursday and $4 an hour Friday to Sunday and holidays.
The committee recommended the off-season parking rates hold firm at $2 an hour Monday to Thursday and $3 an hour for 2025. Quarry Lake rates are also staying the same at $10 an hour for a minimum of two hours.
Council is scheduled to approve the budget on Feb. 11.
“The information administration brought to council in the budget process this year helped me really understand our community is adapting really well to paid parking,” said Coun. Tanya Foubert at the Jan. 9 finance committee meeting. “The concern I had with affordability, I don’t think is actually occurring.
“I think the reality is people just don’t like paid parking. No one wants to pay for things. … People aren’t lining up to pay for taxes and parking. That’s not how these types of systems work, but we do have to manage our transportation system. Not just as a community whose residents’ quality depends upon that, but as a tourism centre and gateway community that sees millions of vehicles come into our community when we have a street network that was scoped out 100 years ago for horses.”
According to statistics tracked by the Town on people that use paid parking, 2.3 per cent of revenue came from locals, meaning the majority comes from visitors.
“For paid parking, it’s one of the biggest ways to get money from non-residents that come use all of our parking and roads. This is one way we use to fund transit. … It would generate more revenue, which would help increase our transit options,” said Coun. Jeff Hilstad.
A guiding principle for maintaining or increasing rates is data from parking use, with 80 per cent used as the measure to recommend an increase.
In 2024, weekday use of paid parking zones in peak hours in July and August were above 80 per cent. Between May and September, weekend use in peak hours was also above 80 per cent.
Of all paid parking transactions, roughly 34 per cent are done by residents as well as 29 per cent of total minutes – but that includes people using three free hours.
Hilstad noted some locals will be impacted by the increase, but the Town will continue to offer three free hours a day to those who register annually, and there is free parking in residential zones for residents near paid parking areas.
Canmore’s local public transit system is also free for all people.
“There are options to not pay to park and we offer monthly permits. … If you look at utilization rates, they are increasing so I think it’s the right time to do a rate change and help fund other projects,” Hilstad said.
In 2022, paid parking in the Town Centre and Quarry Lake generated $1.075 million in gross revenue and $706,346 in net revenue. For 2023, revenues increased to $2.055 million in gross revenue and $1.899 million in net revenue.
In 2024, paid parking brought in $2.5 million in gross revenue and the net revenue is still being determined since the Town is working on its year-end financials.
There were 11,736 permits for individual vehicles approved in the community, while 6,090 tickets were dolled out to vehicles not paying for parking.
Paid parking was implemented in 2021 at Quarry Lake and 2022 for the Town Centre. Parking at Riverside Park and the Bow River boat launch were added to the paid parking program last year.
In 2024, council approved its paid parking revenue allocation model that has revenue split between program costs, transit funding, the Town Centre grant program, the Rocky Mountain Heritage Foundation and paid parking reserve.
Paid parking and public transit are intricately linked to one another. Under council-approved policy, portions of the paid parking reserve are funnelled to offset Canmore’s requisition for Roam transit.
Finance committee also recommended the seasonal Grassi Lakes route become a year-round service. If approved by council, $140,000 would be drawn from the reserve for September to December later this year. In 2026, the reserve would cover $348,000 from January to May and October to December.
Additional service for the Banff and Canmore regional route was also recommended, at a cost of $78,000, which will also come from paid parking reserve.
Town staff estimated the increase in paid parking would add about $700,000 annually in revenue between 2025-28.
According to council policy, $350,000 of that would go to offset public transit costs and the remaining $350,000 would go to the paid parking reserve.
Transferring the extra $350,000 can lower Canmore’s transit requisition. In 2025, the recommended new services would leave $132,000 in net revenue added from the $350,000 to the reserve. In 2026, it would be $426,000, leaving an extra $76,000 needed to come from paid parking reserve.
A one per cent tax increase for 2025 is $349,000 and forecasted to be $485,000 in 2026.
Chelsey Gibbons, the Town’s manager of financial services, said at the Jan. 16 meeting the estimated paid parking revenue could change if additional zones are added. She said a “conservative estimate” was made and “our revenue estimates are quite conservative.”
COMMERCIAL PAID PARKING NOT IN THE CARDS – YET
A commercial paid parking permit program for vehicles on Canmore municipal roads won’t hit the streets for now.
During budget deliberations, Town staff recommended a new program launch potentially as soon as 2026, but finance committee wanted to wait to collect more information before providing direction.
At the Dec. 5 meeting, Mayor Sean Krausert said rather than deciding during budget talks, it could come through a council workshop or council agenda review to bring back to council.
A report from Town staff identified the areas of Elk Run Boulevard and Glacier Drive as potential zones. A commercial vehicle would be considered a truck, bus and trailer, according to a staff report.
If finance committee recommended a permit system, Town staff said they would need 2025 to create policy for council consideration by the fourth quarter of this year.
The recommendation for the program would be a monthly parking permit rather than a new permit system.
A staff report noted municipal enforcement is proactive in areas where vehicles may park for long periods, with chalking tires and ticketing of vehicles that haven’t moved in at least 72 hours.
Foubert asked at the Jan. 9 meeting if a commercial paid parking program was added, if it would fall under existing policy. Gibbons said the estimate for such a program was $28,000, meaning it could be split similarly to other paid parking revenue or go entirely into the paid parking reserve.
Foubert attempted to increase $28,000 in projected revenue for municipal enforcement due to a potential commercial paid parking program. Her motion failed 6-1, with other elected officials saying more information was needed.
“The commercial paid parking service level is something we’ve been moving towards in addressing a number of areas in our community where there’s a lot of commercial parking. Paid parking is a tool we can use in order to manage how people park,” she said.
