The North Shore Business Improvement Association is urging the City of Kamloops to look to future development when it comes to deciding whether or not to bring in paid parking along the Tranquille Corridor.

Executive Director Jeremy Heighton responding to a 470-page Parking Management Study that listed paid parking along the Tranquille corridor as a lower priority long-term strategy.

“This is an ongoing conversation we’ve had,” Heighton said.

“The city is going to do what the city is going to do, and what we have said is ‘if metered parking does go ahead, we want to ensure that the revenue from that parking goes back into the neighbourhood so it funds beautification or safety upgrades or something to that effect.”

Speaking on NL Mornings, Heighton reiterated the importance of looking to the future, pointing to the residential and commercial development set to happen in that part of Kamloops.

“We’re going to see probably 500 to a 1,000 new residential units in the next three to five years. We’re probably going to see a redevelopment of commercial space and parking will become a premium,” he said.

“It’s really critical when we have these conversations to not just look at today, rather to say when we have a thousand more residential units, what is going to happen on this corridor? Is it going to become gridlock or is it going to have turnover?”

During this month’s Committee of the Whole Meeting on Oct. 24, a pair of Kamloops Councillors spoke in favour of implementing paid parking along the Tranquille Corridor.

“I happen to believe we should be metering Tranquille Road and I don’t think we should be waiting for years to do it,” Councillor Dale Bass said.

“And I hope we don’t just necessarily rely on the feedback from the public, because they’re not going to want to pay for metered parking on Tranquille, but it’s one of the ways to help solve the problem over there.”

Councillor Bill Sarai also noted that while drivers will likely oppose paid parking on the North Shore, business owners would likely be in favour of it.

“They welcome meters eventually coming because they say with the meters will come CSO officers monitoring the meters, which will help with social issues that are up and down that corridor, so they have actually seen a bigger picture,” Sarai said.

“I think if it comes in our term, it’s going to not be very popular because no one wants meters anywhere, and for the North Shore to even discuss it there. You say it, and then you duck your head and you run.”

At that committee meeting, City staff were given the green light to implement the parking prioritization plan and recommended strategies outlined in the study. Any strategies that have a financial impact will have to go to City Council for approval.

As it stands, the only metered parking in the of Kamloops is in the downtown core.

“What we have said to the City is look, we know that there is going to be some challenges moving forward. We know that this densification is going to really seriously impact our area. However, we also don’t also want you to start metering tomorrow. We don’t think that is fair to the community,” Heighton added.

“So when we start looking at it in the bigger picture, paid parking does make sense. It’s just how you implement it and what you do with the money on the back end.”