Regina’s executive council mulled over options on what to do with standalone surface parking lots (SSPLs) in the city’s downtown core. Around 10 per cent of Regina’s downtown is made up of SSPLs. Executive council initiated the process for a study on what could be done with those downtown parking lots all the way back in 2024. Now two years later, councillors were presented with two options by city administration – either increase taxes on the standalone lots or begin a two-year study on transportation in the city centre. Luke Grazier, the city’s acting director of sustainable infrastructure, asked councillors to begin the process of finding the best policy recommendations as well as other “potential initiatives around parking supply management, transit usage, circulation, and mobility within the city centre.” It’s been more than a decade since the city’s last parking study, which was done in 2014. With projects like the revitalizations of Dewdney Avenue and 11 Avenue complete – a modern look at the way city centre flows is the next thing to look into, according to the city’s review. The other option was heavily opposed by the downtown business community. Both the city’s review and landowners themselves argue that the idea of forcing landowners into building on land classified as “underutilized” by raising taxes is not a strategy that will work. Mike Tate of the Regina and District Chamber of Commerce argued a tax hike to force construction on surface parking lots is simply choosing the wrong priority. “There just simply isn’t demand for new office businesses downtown due to a number of factors including safety, cost of parking, cost of new construction, and what the net new gain for a new business would be to relocate downtown,” he explained. According to the city, 58 per cent of SSPLs are for businesses and visiting customers, 30 per cent are for public parking, eight per cent are for residential building tenants, and the final four per cent is city-owned for the Regina Police Service parking lot. Some property owners are happy to address the concerns over safety and the lack of aesthetically pleasing lots. Mitch Molnar of Mitchell Developments says the red tape and bylaws surrounding parking lots make improvements unfeasible and new lot creation impossible. After a request from tenants, Molnar began the process of adding a fence to the adjacent parking lot serving that building, only to encounter what he called a “lose/lose” situation. “I had to then take that lot and make all of the stalls regulation stalls. I lost probably 40 per cent of the stalls through that process. Tenants say, ‘No, we need the parking more than we need the fence,’” Molnar explained. With the already frustrating hurdles associated with the SSPLs, an increase in taxation does the opposite of helping the situation. On the other hand, city administration says the two-year city centre study will cost $400,000 – not ideal in the eyes of city council with the annual budget approaching. Executive committee decided neither option was the right path forward and voted against the study 6-5. However, Mayor Chad Bachynski says there is plenty of good work to build off of from the review. “I think our folks in administration still have some good ideas that we can still move ahead with in terms of kind of policy areas,” Bachynski told reporters Wednesday evening. “But when it comes to the report and even the dollars associated, maybe that’s something that we want to take a pause and think about before we move ahead.” For now, Regina’s downtown parking lots will stay as they are.
