Midland votes to continue the use of controversial parking meters

Parking woes in downtown Midland New parking meters have resulted in roughly 500 complaints from motorists because of their challenging design.

Barrie, Ont. — Despite hundreds of complaints, the Town of Midland will not stop its new parking meter program.

The new meters were installed in August, and the town said it received roughly 500 objections from residents who said the program was difficult to navigate and challenging to read.

Councillor Bill Gordon brought the issue to the town in hopes of hitting the pause button on using the meters for the winter "until we can, you know, rethink this and get it right."

In a vote of six to three, a motion to pause the use of the meters was defeated.

The mayor previously told CTV News that pausing the parking program would result in a three per cent tax increase to make up for money lost.

He added that the town was working with the parking meter vendor to improve operations.