Vernon City Council has endorsed a recommendation to begin charging fees to park in the Civic Arena lot beginning on September 1. The paid parking coincides with the Recreation Fees & Charges Bylaw, which takes effect that date for all recreation programs and services.
Work that will be done to prepare the lot includes repair of the catch basin, blacktop repair, grading as required, alignment of parking rows, signage and the installation of a ticket dispenser.
“The Civic Arena parking lot is part of the Recreation Services envelope of facilities and services and receives no revenue from the lot, while being responsible for all of the costs associated with maintaining it, which includes grading, repairs, snow removal and regular clean up,” said Doug Ross, Director of Recreation Services. “These costs are growing significantly and Recreation Services needs to look at ways that it can recoup some of these costs.”
Hours of paid parking will be Monday to Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Parking outside of these hours, weekends and during events at the Civic Arena will be free of charge. The fees for parking will be 50 cents per hour, $1 for two hours, $2 for four hours, $3 per day, $12 for a weekly pass and $43 for a monthly pass. Daily and weekly passes can be purchased at an onsite ticket dispenser and monthly passes can be purchased at City Hall and the Vernon Recreation Centre.
“The project to twin Kal Tire Place is currently in the design phase and use of the Civic as an arena will be discontinued when the new facility is completed in the fall of 2018,” said Ross. “The City will be engaging residents of Vernon to develop a plan for the future use of the Civic Arena block once the arena is decommissioned.”