The issue of accommodating overflow parking around the QEII Hospital continues to plague city council. An expanded area of permitted street parking was implemented last spring but it seems the issue of parking congestion has simply moved to the streets just outside the area where permits are required.
Ian Buchanan lives on a service road just off of 108 Ave, east of Resources Road, and says in the last year his street has seen a marked increase in parking violations. He says it has been a constant battle to try and take back their road.
“We’ve had driveways completely blocked off, there’s been people that have knocked over garbage cans, it has just been congested. My best way to describe it is that it is like a parking lot.”
So far residents have been forced to make nearly daily phone calls to bylaw enforcement to deal with errant parking but Buchanan says they would rather find a more proactive solution.
“I think at the end of the day if we can get something going in the right direction, we’re all for it. We don’t want to be the people that are causing all the grief, we want to try and be part of the solution, so maybe we can help in that regard.”
The city’s Community Safety Committee advised Buchanan and his neighbors to also approach the hospital’s parking services department as well as local MLA’s, who have the ability to lobby the government for more parking at the QEII.
Meanwhile, a review into how the first year of permitted parking around the hospital has gone is currently being considered by the city.