The parking lot in downtown Vernon that will lose stalls to accommodate the Greater Vernon Cultural Centre (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

112 Spots Disappearing

Cultural Centre parking loss not a concern for the city

Jun 24, 2025 | 12:01 PM

The City of Vernon believes the loss of the parking spots for the Greater Vernon Cultural Centre will will not have significant impacts on residents or visitors.

The Cultural Centre (GVCC) will be built at the site currently used as a parking lot on 31st Avenue and 30th Street, which has 162 parking spaces as of time of publication.

Construction will reduce the lot to just 50 spots for hourly and daily parking, not including on-street parking which will remain.

Though the city will be losing 112 stalls, a city staff report stated there would still be parking available within the downtown core to accomodate people.

The report, presented to Vernon City Council Monday, June 23, stated recent data showed monthly parking was undersold in other areas within a short walk of the area, including the city parkade, on-street parking, and private and city-owned parking lots.

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“To support parking needs across the downtown area, the city provides a mix of on-street and flat surface lot parking,” the report stated.

“In total, there are 978 on-street parking spaces and 556 spaces in flat surface lots. Once construction begins at the GVCC site, 444 flat surface lot spaces will remain available. In addition to public parking, several privately owned paid parking lots are located downtown, primarily along 30th Street and 32nd Street (Highway 97).”

Council received the report for information Monday.

Following the meeting, Mayor Victor Cumming told Vernon Matters acknowledged that parking is a concern for residents, but this project would not negatively impact the public’s ability to work in or visit the downtown core.

“We know that only half the parkade is used by monthly pass holders, so we know that there is capacity there. We also know that there’s a new commercial parking lot just across from the Hamlets on 30th Street and 29th Avenue, plus there’s a couple of other places in the downtown core where parking lots are being developed by the private sector,” Cumming said.

“We see that there will be enough new spaces created and enough current unused spaces that there will be spaces. Yes, it is true that people might have to walk an extra block or two from where they currently are used to parking, but we are comfortable that there will be enough parking in the downtown core to service retail and staff.”

A review of downtown parking needs and surface lot options were also identified as a priority in the 2023-2026 Council Strategic Plan. That project had not been initiated due to capacity constraints at the city, though it was noted efforts to explore opportunities and expand public parking was ongoing.