Calgary's new Residential Parking Permit program sparks concern among inner-city residents

Dwight McSorley has always loved his little house in the inner city.

Crescent Heights is where he spent most of his life and where he raised his children. But now, the city is enacting some changes that McSorley and some fellow residents are not happy with.

The new Residential Parking Permit program’s (RPP) recent changes are starting to come into effect, essentially forcing inner-city residents to pay for parking permits.

The changes were in response to the complaints of residents who are unable to park in front of their homes due to the high demand for parking spaces from people heading downtown.

The hope for this restriction was that it would deter people from parking in residential areas as they would not have enough time to head downtown.

“I called CPA and told the lady ‘I have to renew my parking permit Oct. 1’ and she told me ‘that’s when the new process will kick in and you’ll have to purchase your parking permits,’” McSorley explains.

“They started with restrictions where you can park Monday through Friday from seven o’clock to six o’clock. Two hours only.”

Unintended consequences

To address the concerns of residents who needed to park their cars in front of their homes, the city introduced a parking permit system that allowed residents to apply for parking permits that could be displayed on their cars.

The system has since been improved to an electronic registration system, which requires residents to register their vehicle license plates, however, now it comes with a cost.

According to Calgary Parking, the new RPP’s will cost $100 for the first permit, $150 for the second, and $250 for the third for a two-year term. Visitor permits can be purchased for $150.

Fees will be in place starting around mid-2023 as residents' previous permits expire.

Area councillor is also opposed

Residents aren’t the only ones not impressed.

“The new program is a new fee that is causing a lot of Calgarians concern,” says Ward 7 Cllr. Terry Wong, who represents the area.

“This is a brand new cost to them above what they’re paying for in property taxes.”

Wong says under the previous system, the city did not collect enough fees to cover the cost of enforcement, which was being paid by taxpayers.

“There is another way to ensure costs are covered, and it should not be based upon adding another fee on top of existing taxes on people who want to park in front of their own houses,” Wong says, adding he thinks there are better solutions.

The councillor is working with transportation companies and Calgary Parking to create a “hybrid” system.

Fees on top of inflation

Residents are also expressing concerns that this will just be another price on top of raising costs due to inflation.

“The last time I was at Costco, my wife and I just picked up a few things. It came out to be $300 and that wasn’t even all of our groceries,” McSorley says.

McSorley says many of his neighbours, including retired seniors, are down to their last pennies.

“This is all money, right? There is no parking downtown that you want to pay for, so you find better parking. But now we’re paying for this,” the disgruntled resident says.

A bigger problem

The new policy has made life difficult for some residents who do not have a garage or parking space of their own. They are left with no option but to pay for a permit or risk getting a parking ticket.

“Can I park my truck behind the garage? Well, somebody’s going to hit me. The garbage truck coming down the alley barely has any room,” McSorley adds.

Residents are appreciative of Wong’s support.

“Terry Wong, our ward councillor, voted against passing the policy, which is good because at least he is standing up for the ward,” McSorley says, but he knows it’s not enough.

“Unfortunately, there were only about four people that voted against it so it passed, and it’s just disheartening.”

Speak out

As it was community members that originally asked to have a parking permit installed, as Wong explains, they can also ask to have them removed.

“If people have a permit system and they say they don’t want to pay for it, we can always remove those permit systems and allow just anybody to park on your streets,” Wong says, adding the policy was intended to address the concerns of residents but ultimately is causing other issues.

“It’s almost like we’re being penalized because we are in the inner city, McSorley adds.

For more information on the RPP program, visit https://www.calgaryparking.com/parkingpermits.