Saskatoon City Councillors discussed and ultimately deferred a motion on Oct. 24 to implement paid metered parking on Sundays in the downtown, Broadway and Riversdale neighbourhoods.

There are no large metropolitan centres in Canada that currently charge for parking on Sundays, though city councillor Darren Hill says there are other municipalities that are already doing this.

Hill said as far as he knows, most business owners downtown are in favour of the motion.

“People will park at a meter,” he said, “and they’ll stay there all day while they’re working. So there’s no turnover. [Business owners] see this as an opportunity to fix that problem.”

But Neil Malik, owner of popular downtown club Scratch, said this is not an issue on Sundays. By his estimation, parking occupancy downtown on Sundays runs at around 50 per cent.

“There’s plenty of spots available,” he said. “I know a good majority of people that reserve their downtown shopping to Sundays because of the free meters and the availability of parking. It will definitely hurt retail sales and downtown needs all the help it can get on Sundays.”

Despite Hill’s rosier analysis of business-owners’ opinions, he said he thinks council is moving too quickly on the issue, and has failed to solicit the thoughts of groups who will be affected.

Hill introduced a motion at council which passed on Monday to refer the motion back to city administrators for further consideration. City administration had brought up the proposal and had presented it to the city’s executive council, which passed the motion and sent it on to city council for approval. But Hill thinks the proposal needs more time.

“I don’t think we’ve done our due diligence on the matter,” Hill said. “There are churches, the library, residential towers and seniors’ complexes that will all be impacted, and we haven’t talked to them yet.”

If the plan is approved after administration returns it to council, meters will require $2 per hour. This is expected to bring in around $400,000 per year in revenue. According to Hill, the extra revenue will largely be spent on “street improvements” of the kind currently changing the 3rd Ave landscape.

Malik offered a stern rebuke to the members of city council and the city’s administration, saying, “I don’t think people should have to pay more money as a result of the City of Saskatoon’s problem with asset management. They painted themselves into a corner and are now finding ways to get out of it.”

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