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• Downtown & Warehouse District Off-Street Parking Requirements

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  • Fill out a survey here (will open in a new tab)
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  Check out our 1 page overview of our Parking Proposal here.

  How does off-street parking Downtown and in the Warehouse District work now?

  Parking is provided in 2 ways:

  • On-street (typically public parking), and
  • Off-street parking (parking lots or parkades).

  
  

  The Land Use Bylaw has rules around off-street parking, specifically how many parking spaces must be provided on a property, depending on the use. This is called a minimum parking requirement. If you're really interested (or very bored), you can read more about the parking requirements in section 63 of the Land Use Bylaw.

  For properties Downtown, and for properties outside Downtown with a General Commercial zoning, the requirements are already relaxed substantially. But, for new developments or when additions to buildings are proposed, there can still be uncertainty as to how much off-street parking will be required.

  
  

  What are we proposing? Why?

  We are re-evaluating the Land Use Bylaw requirements for businesses and residential buildings to provide off-street parking on private property in Downtown and in parts of the Warehouse District. City staff are proposing to eliminate the Land Use Bylaw requirement for landowners to provide off-street parking within a defined geographical area.

  The area for the proposed change would be Downtown and parts of the Warehouse District (north of 3 Avenue S), as shown on the map (click on the map to open a larger version in a new tab).

  Right now parking minimums in the Bylaw can result in an oversupply of parking for different uses in specific locations because the minimum number of parking spaces required is often more than the real demand for parking spaces.

  Many of Lethbridge’s existing Land Use Bylaw rules for parking on private property were put in place in the 1980’s. Lethbridge has changed considerably since then and the rules need to be updated to make sure they make sense for today while also considering future planning. Designing our city, specifically core commercial areas, around parking instead of people has resulted in wasted space and wasted business opportunities. Eliminating this Land Use Bylaw requirement would bring significant long-term benefits for Lethbridge, including:

  • Improving choice and flexibility in how businesses and developers use their properties and meet their parking needs.
  • Creating stronger alignment between the Land Use Bylaw and overarching city-wide policy for a vibrant, walkable and compact city envisioned in past planning efforts. Parking can take up a lot of space, making neighbourhoods more spread out and less walkable. Removing minimums enables more walkable main street shopping areas and local amenities.
  • Removing an economic barrier to new businesses and more diverse housing options. Parking is expensive, running anywhere from $7,000 to $60,000 per stall. This cost gets passed down in the rent or mortgage that tenants (whether commercial or residential) pay and in the price of goods bought and services used.
  • Supporting more diverse transportation options. Removal of parking minimums helps open the door for the possibility of a less auto-centric future.
  • Enabling opportunities for businesses and homeowners to share parking, lease out space to nearby properties, and/or redevelop current lots tied to parking requirements. Lethbridge has a history of allocating a disproportionate amount of space to automobiles. Allowing developments to share or lease out parking makes more efficient use of this existing oversupply.