Parking fees will be fully brought back in downtown Kamloops on Sept. 7.

On-street parking fees were reinstated on May 19, and council’s decision will affect the two parkades and six city-owned parking lots, which provide a total of nearly 1,000 parking stalls.

Bylaw services supervisor, Tammy Blundell, points out the Seymour Street parkade is closed this month and the Lansdowne Street parkade will be shut down next month. The membranes of those parkades are being replaced for a combined cost of $450,000.

“Administration considered requesting that council reinstate city-owned surface lot parking fees as of August 4th and the parkade user fees as of September 7th. However, due to the parkade membrane replacement project and displacement project, and displacing parkers, this would then be a ripple effect into our surface lots.”

The city also points out it has had to accommodate the 90 monthly parking pass holders in the Sandman Centre parking lots, because those spots have been flooded in recent weeks from the Thompson River.

Parking fees in downtown Kamloops were wiped in late March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a way to prevent people from using a common touch point and potentially spreading the virus.

Blundell says since May 19, the total revenue from reinstating on-street parking fees is $51,200.

That includes $56,300 in revenue from the parking meters between May 19 and June 30, as well as $18,100 from fines issued at on-street parking stalls. The city also says it expects to lose $23,200 by Oct. 31 from expanded patios taking up parking stalls, which it factored into the total revenues.

Staff also say the city stands to lose $23,250 this summer from the parkades being closed for renovations.