Increase to parking fees at Bramm St. Yards causing dispute at city council

If you use the Bramm St. Yard parking lot in downtown Kitchener, you likely got an unfriendly surprise when about a dozen cars were ticketed overnight, after the parking fees increased in price.

The parking lot used to be free on evenings and Sundays, like other lots in the area, but it’s now a paid lot from Monday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to midnight. The people who use the lot told Kitchener City Council yesterday that more notice needed to be given before handing out parking tickets.

A new parking sign was erected last month and with it was a small piece of yellow paper that said changes were coming Feb. 12, 2024. That was the only notice people who use the lot weekly were given.

The lot is used frequently by people who live in the three condo towers across the street from it. One of the delegates, Kaylee Perez, said their building does not offer any visitor parking and these changes will impact people already struggling to make ends meet.

“The yellow stickers on the parking lot sign only showed up two weeks before the parking changes then the city aggressively fined dozens of people, days after the new fees were imposed,” said Perez during the council meeting Mar. 18.

“The way this change was implemented lacked affective communication and procedural fairness. Far from being transparent this whole process has felt clandestine and more like a money grab.”

The fees for the parking lot increased from $2.30 an hour to $2.60 an hour. The daily rate increased from $10.90 to $13.00, and the times changed on top of that. Instead of free usage on evenings and Sundays, people will have to pay to use the lot from 8 a.m. to midnight, Monday to Sunday.

Another delegate told council the move was unfair as other parking lots near residential buildings offer free parking on weekends or evenings.

City staff responded by saying the Bramm St. Yard parking lot is not considered to be part of downtown Kitchener, which meant they couldn’t incorporate it into the BIA subsidy program that was created to help businesses struggling during the LRT construction.

Delegates rebuked that, saying the lot is down the street from the downtown core.

“There seems to be a problem in how these parking lots in the downtown core, on how they are being defined or paid or not paid, and it just makes sense to me at this point to bring them in alignment,” said Coun. Debbie Chapman during the meeting.

Chapman said there seems to be a discrepancy In what’s happening at Bramm versus the whole downtown core.

Chapman pushed city staff for answers about what kind of notice was given and what data did city staff have to interpret a price increase of that nature.

Justin Readman, the general manager of development services, responded saying that the lot is currently running in a deficit.

Readman said during COVID, there was decision made by council to eliminate some parking requirements at all the lots but that was a temporary measure used during COVID to support local businesses.

“What I would say is that all of the surface lots in downtown including the Bramm St. lot are meant to be temporary and are slated for redevelopment in the longer term, and some of them will redevelop more quicky then others, so this is not a long-term solution for residents in the downtown,” said Readman during the council meeting.

Chapman responded, saying it could take years before any lots like the one on Bramm St. are redeveloped.

Chapman pushed for more data to be collected on the lot but that motion was deferred until the next city council meeting.