New West councillor speaks out over parking increase

Monday night's council meeting was on the road in Queensborough, and despite the meeting only going for about an hour and a half, there were still some interesting discussions. You can take a look at the full recap here.

Puchmayr pipes up on parking

As council was working through bylaws for readings, Cllr. Chuck Puchmayr asked if it was possible to separate the increase to parking fees from the other city fees that were slated to go up. While the increase to fees, including parking, were not pulled from the consent agenda during the Aug. 29 meeting, the outlined costs for increases to parking were as follows:

• Annual parking permit fee for first and second residential parking permits would go up from $33 to $43 per permit;

• Annual parking permit fee for third and fourth residential parking permits would remain unchanged, at $110;

• Annual parking permit fee for a visitor parking permit would go up from $33 to $44. It would still be a maximum of one visitor parking permit per household;

• One book of five day-use visitor parking permits would go up to $30 from $26;

• Increase to pay meters: Uptown, Downtown and Sapperton would go up to $3.50/hr. vs. the current $3.25/hr;

• All other parts of the city would go up to $3, vs. the current $2.75 per hour

• The number of minutes certain coins would get you if inserted them into a pay machine would also be changing for certain values, for instance $0.05 and $0.10 coins would be worth 0 minutes. The lowest value coin you could put in would be $0.25 for four or five minutes of parking, depending on location

Puchmayr says that he's had a chance to speak to some Sapperton residents on this topic, and that they're concerned about the cost of parking going up. In some cases, Puchmayr says they've mentioned to him that their car is the only way they are able to get around; some also have mobility issues or struggle to make it up hills.

In response, Cllr. Johnstone said that the bylaw should be supported as is, since city staff will need financial numbers to work with for the year, and parking costs are a part of that revenue.

This ended up going ahead as is after the discussion.

Emissions output

Council received a report for information outlining the city's corporate greenhouse gas emissions. (GHG) In the report's executive summary, staff found the emissions decreased in output by 28.7% when comparing with 2010 as the baseline year. The report goes on to say reduction is actually 23.5% lower "than what would have been expected without the climate emergency declaration."

Cllr. Nadine Nakagawa applauded the good news, though staff added there were also some changes in rates that could have come from the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular where services were limited or reduced.

Mayor Jonathan Cote wondered out loud if the closure of the Canada Games Pool, which he noted was not an up-to-date space (where emissions technology was concerned) played a role in the rate drop. He also asked staff if there would be an uptick in emissions with the opening of the new facility, təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre. Staff said the latter, set to open in 2024, likely won't see a jump in emissions, though there could be a change by plus or minus 10%. The centre is set to be Canada's first zero-carbon certified aquatic centre. 

Work on whistle cessation

New West Progressives (NWP) candidate and accountant Rick Folka was one of two people who appeared during open delegation on Monday night to ask questions about the capital budget. One of his questions included expenditures involving whistle cessation, after Folka said Cllr. Puchmayr had made comments about $40,000 being spent on equipment related to cessation.

City staff responded, saying whistle cessation is currently at the stage of being reviewed, and that no equipment has been purchased yet, with concepts for two crossings being looked at. Once the concepts are deemed okay by the railway companies involved, the procurement of construction and equipment will be next.

In response, Cllr. Puchmayr said he'd received different information from staff with respects to what had or hadn't been purchased. After making the comment, Puchmayr, who is running for mayor as an independent, asked Folka if he had been involved in any public input related to the budget, or if Folka had been following along since the beginning of the budget process.

Folka, who answered "no," was told by Puchmayr that there is often a lot of work done leading up to the creation of the budgets, and that it can be challenging to understand what's happening if joining if one is joining later on in the process.

Cote's campaign funds

Mayor Jonathan Cote asked council if leftover money from his campaign could go to a scholarship program at Simon Fraser University's urban planning program.

Typically, leftover campaign money can be used by someone if they choose to run again, but if it is not being used for that purpose, the delegation of the money needs to go through council. As Cote is not running again, he elected to have "four or five-thousand dollars" be put toward the scholarship.

Council passed the motion.

Other announcements

Mayor Cote, who like the rest of council, was dressed in an orange shirt, also issued a reminder to people that this Friday was the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Cote invited the public to attend the event at Westminster Pier Park, which will take place from 3 to 6pm.