File Image. (Image Credit: Adam Berls/CKPGtoday.ca Staff)

By Adam Berls

city hall

‘System is broken’: Downtown parking sparks lengthy debate

Sep 17, 2025 | 9:56 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — City council has heard a number of recommendations for parking in the downtown in the short-term, medium-term and long-term. This sparked nearly 40 minutes of discussion.

After council had previously asked administration to come back with recommendations, Council heard the recommendations, among one of which would be that, in the long-term, “a transition to two-hour parking and paid parking be implemented.”

Another recommendation was that “the city adopt a hybrid free/paid parking system similar to the existing model that is employed in the hospital zone” over the medium to long-term. However it is important to note that these are recommendations that relate to a future scenario, possibly too far in the future to warrant a specific action currently.

In the short-term, staff have suggested “that both the Hospital Zone and Downtown Zone should have the amount of free parking time harmonized” to two hours. It was recommended that the City “standardize its downtown on-street parking model similar to the hospital zone to encourage parking turnover.” by having a two hour free parking model, with no re-parking within five hours.

Councillor Kyle Sampson says that what he has heard from downtown businesses, is that the current system is broken and that it is discouraging people from going downtown. Sampson says that what was evident from consultation was that free parking in the downtown is non-negotiable, and that there has to be free parking in any revamp of the parking model and that the three hour free parking should stay. After the free three hours, Sampson says that users would have the option to pay for more time and proposed a motion that would take the revenues from the extended paid-parking option to be put back into downtown safety programs.

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Councillor Brian Skakun said that the motion should be referred to another meeting of council until more information was available and that the revenues gathered from the extended-paid parking option, could be seen as the City simply making money of it. Councillor Trudy Klassen said that Sampson’s motion was “putting the cart before the horse” and that more information was needed. The motion was divided into three separate motions as follows:

• A. Maintain a 3-hour free parking window within the Downtown and Hospital Zones with the added flexibility for users to pay for additional time beyond the free period. PASSED
• B. Dedicate incremental revenue from on-street paid parking to downtown safety and cleanliness initiatives. REFERRED to staff for further information.
• C. Develop a communications campaign to ensure that the public understands how the parking model works. PASSED

There was lots of back and forth by council over procedural issues, and there was confusion over what motion was on the floor or what amendments were being made.

This was all sparked by a motion that was put forward and passed by council, by Councillor Kyle Sampson back in May of 2024.

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X: @AdamBerls

Email: Adam.Berls@pattisonmedia.com