City council has approved a plan to create more parking spaces in downtown Windsor while also reducing a planned increase in enforcement times.
During Monday's meeting, the council voted in favour of a plan proposed by Ward 3 Councillor Renaldo Agostino that will include a move to angled on-street parking in the core to create more parking spaces downtown.
City administration has identified several areas where parking optimization could take place where roadway width permits, including Chatham Street East and Pitt Street.
According to a staff report, the overall move to angled on-street parking is expected to create 249 new spaces downtown, up to 864 from the current 615.
As part of the overall parking plan in the 2026 budget, the council also approved a reduction in parking enforcement to 6 p.m., as opposed to extending it to 9 p.m. from the current 7 p.m., as first proposed in the budget.
Ward 3 Councillor Renaldo Agostino says the best part for him is that the council continues to support downtown.
"I think what people need to understand is this is just a chess move into the future of downtown. It's great that more businesses, especially more restaurants, will get angled parking right in front of their places," he says.
Agostino says they've now opened the door to make parking spots available to businesses looking to locate downtown.
"Whether you're bringing 75 jobs downtown in a marketing firm or for places that want to transition from being office buildings into residential because it's next to impossible to get parking for building conversions," he says. "This opens the door to that, and that, to me, is really the big win for the future of downtown."
Agostino says this also opens up the potential to try this in other areas of the city.
"I'm sure there are certain parts of Walkerville around their restaurant district that would love to have angled parking to support their businesses. We didn't use the term test pilot for this particular project because I wanted it to be a full time thing but in essence it is an experiment for other parts of the city," he says.
Coin payments at parking meters will also increase by 25 cents per hour to $2.50, but rates will remain at $2.25 for mobile app payment locations.
The city is also working to have Apple Pay and Android Pay made available at mobile app sites.
There is no timeline for the changes to take effect, but Agostino believes it could happen in a month or two.
The cost to install the additional parking is estimated to be $15,400 based on the addition or conversion of 249 newly formed parking spaces in the downtown core. This cost includes the cost of signage and painting as well as internal staff costs.