Planning for the future
As the District develops a plan for Downtown and tourism-based parking, your insights are deeply valued and will help shape our work to ensure it will meet the needs of our community.
Input will directly impact the development of aspects of the District’s draft Parking Management Plan. In early 2025 District staff will present the community input received to Council and seek direction on next steps.
What we are trying to solve
The District of Squamish is in transition. Parking availability has become a challenge in a rapidly growing and tourism-based community where land is limited and valuable. How can the District continue to prioritize people – creating space for housing and local employment – while addressing the need for people to easily get around?
We invite you to read on for background information, policy rationale, data on Downtown parking utilization, and ideas for managing it better.
On this page
Background
Understanding the factors, history, and future.
Parking Data
See the statistics and forecasts.
Plans and Strategies
View the proposals and goals.
What We've Heard So Far
See comments we've received.
Community Survey
Already in the know? Skip straight to the survey!
Background
Click on each number below for factors leading to how we got here.
District parking policies designed based on:
... and the understanding of what the highest and best use of land is to maximize residential and commercial space.
- Space saved on parking is used to build more livable spaces. Based off the information presented in the 2020 Downtown Parkade Study the cost in 2020 to build off-street parking in parkades is approximately $50,000 to $63,000 per spot. Costs per residential unit can be lower when fewer parking stalls are built, encouraging residents to utilize other transportation modes and car sharing.
- Parking requirements are a determining factor on how much housing can be built on a property. Higher parking requirements directly reduce the number of housing units that can be accommodated. The District has chosen to reduce parking requirements for Downtown developers to increase the number of homes for people.
- As in other mid-sized towns and cities, some residents choosing to live Downtown tend to do so to take advantage of the ease of walking or biking to work, shops, restaurants and services and reduce their reliance on personal automobiles.
... where shops, restaurants, offices and services are a) supported by Downtown residents who can easily walk or ride within the neighbourhood, and b) accessible to visitors and residents coming into Downtown from other parts of Squamish and beyond.
... where we recognize that GHG emissions resulting from transportation are around 52% of community carbon emissions, and that a way to reduce emissions is to support residents who can shift from a ‘car-first’ to a ‘car-last’ preferred transportation mode for some of their trips.
... where sharing on-street parking creates an efficient use of public space so that parking may be used by residents overnight and employees or others accessing services during the day. Utilizing streets beyond the core commercial area for parking is a key principle to meet the needs of both residents and employees of Downtown businesses, as well as customers and tourists. Learn more in the 'Park Once' section further below.
... where key policy documents like the Official Community Plan and Transportation Master Plan support more trips within Squamish to be made by walking, biking, and using transit. As Squamish grows, the more trips made with sustainable modes will reduce road congestion.
- With increases in transit service and infrastructure such as bike lanes and multi-use pathways, more people can choose to travel to/from Downtown using sustainable modes.
The District’s Accessibility Plan supports increasing accessibility across all our spaces, services, and communications. This includes within the upcoming Parking Management Plan as we seek to remove barriers to accessibility.
The intersection of these items results in policy, guided by the District’s Official Community Plan, that supports increased residential and commercial development in the Downtown core where space for homes and jobs has been prioritized.
Parking Data
What we know
Commercial and residential areas
The following map shows the areas that were classified as Commercial and Residential Areas as a part of the 2023 Downtown Parking Study. These classifications have been used for the following data visualizations.
The areas defined as Commercial and Residential parking in the 2023 Downtown Parking Study.
The difference between the Commercial and Residential areas by amount of spaces.
Commercial
Use the slider tool to compare the parking utilization collected in 2022 and what it was estimated to be five years later,
The following observations on ‘duration’ were made during the within the Downtown commercial area 2-hour parking limit zones:
Weekdays
- Almost 60% of all vehicles parked for 30 minutes or less
- 77.7% of all vehicles parked less than one hour
- 90.5% of all vehicles parked less than two hours
- 9.5% of all vehicles parked longer than two hours (time limit)
Weekends
- 44.4% of vehicles parked 30 minutes or less
- 69.7% parked less than one hour
- 90.6% parked less than two hours
- 8.4% of all vehicles parked longer than two hours (time limit)
Residential
Use the slider tool to compare the parking utilization collected in 2022 and what it was estimated to be five years later,
2020 Downtown Parkade Study
A parkade was estimated to cost between $10M and $25M (in 2020 dollars), according to a report commissioned by the District.
This significant cost and allocation of valuable land needs to be weighed against other community priorities such as parks and other community amenities like Brennan Park Recreation Centre.
Prior to advancing towards the construction of a parkade the District intends to use alternative parking management approaches to manage demand. This could include increased enforcement of parking regulations, introduction of paid parking, and other new parking programs such as residential exempt parking permits. This would allow the District to prioritize the many other important facility and infrastructure upgrades required throughout the community.
Plans and Strategies
How we are proposing to manage the demand for parking Downtown and in tourism-based areas:
Our goal: To introduce a series of parking management measures to ensure that parking remains available Downtown for all who need it, when they need it. This could include:
Downtown
Tourism-based areas
Applies to both
The ‘Park Once’ Design Principle
A key design principle to support parking management measures is the ‘Park Once’ principle. This is effective when parking is located within a 15-minute walk/radius of the various tasks a person needs to accomplish while parked.
Principles include:
- Shared parking opportunities
- Pedestrian and bicycle accessibility
- Mixed-use development
- Public transportation integration
- Wayfinding and signage
- Parking demand management
- Sustainability
Proposed Plan
NOTE: As you review the proposed Downtown parking regulations map below, which build off the recommendations from the 2023 Downtown Parking Study, please note that a Resident Exempt permit area, new accessible parking spaces and new loading zones will be developed from the feedback we receive through the survey.
