The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce feels the decision to lower parking fees will make a big impact.
President of the chamber, Charla Robinson, says small businesses will be positively affected by council’s approval to bring back short-term parking.
On June 1, the city implemented parking changes that included taking away 15-minute parking options. They replaced this with a one hour minimum spend that cost $2.
The chamber pushed back at council’s meeting earlier this week.
“Ourselves and the Waterfront District BIA both did deputations at the council meeting and said we felt this was going to be detrimental to small businesses,” said Robinson.
She notes that when shopping in a small business, an hour of parking isn’t always needed. Most of the time, it’s simply dropping in to pick up a prescription or grab a quick gift.
“It would be a barrier for those people wanting to go to businesses that have on-street parking, because of the additional cost.
When shopping, Robinson points out that people often hop from business to business to run errands and paying $2 at each location would not be practical.
They asked the city to reinstate 15 and 30-minute options, which was approved.
“There will now be 15-minute options available at parking meters and the parking app,” said Robinson.
The decision will be ratified on Monday night and parking authority will begin to implement the new options.
