Update: Businesses frustrated at city’s parking allotment system

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“We recognize the other lots may be located further from a destination than desired and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We can confirm, however, that monthly parking passes (for the next calendar year) are still available for the following lots: 31 Avenue, Railway, 27A, 33 Avenue and the downtown Parkade,” Poirier told Vernon Matters.

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Poirier also points out the parking passes purchased this morning do not take into account daily and weekly parking spaces that will still be available in 2020.

“With the parking limitations we experience in this area, the City is also working hard to develop and promote alternative transportation opportunities with several community partners, including the use of bike lanes, multi-use pathways, and public transit.”

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Original story

Some people were camped outside Vernon City Hall this morning, but it had nothing to do with homeless residents.

It was actually mostly business people, or staff from local businesses, who started lining up at 4 a.m., outside the civic building which didn’t open until 8:30 a.m.

They were looking to buy monthly parking passes for parking lots near their businesses, after someone apparently bought a number of them last year, leaving other merchants with no staff or customer parking nearby.

Sanders Medical owner Dr. Erin Sullivan, whose employees were first in line this morning, said every year someone from their staff goes and waits in line to get the parking spots for the lot that is behind their clinic on 32nd Avenue.

“Last year they went at like 6 or 6:30 [a.m.] and there was a couple people in front of them, and the first guy in line bought 40 or 50 spots in all these different lots, so we lost those spots at the clinic. So this year, [we realized] we had to go super early to make sure we get our spots back.”

Sullivan said it’s a bit of a “free for all,” with people being able to buy whatever amount of spots for various lots.

“I don’t know why they have to do it in this first-come-first-served basis on Dec. 2 because now this is what’s happening. People were asking us, ‘What time did you get here?,’ because obviously next year, people are going to start going earlier.”

Sullivan said there were 25 to 30 people in line when city hall opened its doors at 8:30 a.m., and she has some suggestions on how it could be improved.

“The city knows the businesses, they know how many employees we all have. I don’t [get] why the city can’t just figure out a way to allot the businesses the stalls they need. Why does it have to be these people have to go wait and do this ridiculous system which isn’t even controlled in any way?” Sullivan told Vernon Matters.

Sullivan said one person in line was thinking about buying all the available tickets and then telling the city, ‘Now what are you going to do?’ ‘We’re going to sell these privately to people.’ He was like ‘We have to do something about it because this is a ridiculous system. The city keeps saying they’re going to change it and they never do.'”

Vernon Matters reached out the City of Vernon for comment.

“Each year, monthly surface parking lot passes for the following year are available for sale starting the first business day of December,” Christy Poirier, communications manager with the city, said. “Many businesses pre-purchase passes for their staff for the coming year. We sell these passes on a first-come-first-serve basis. As a result, over the years, these businesses have come early in order to secure the passes they need. Full-year passes were made available for the first time this year. This makes it easier for those wanting passes for the entire year to only purchase an annual pass rather than 12 monthly passes.”

Poirier added of the six surface parking lots downtown, two lots (29^th Street lot and transit hub lot) were completely sold out for 2020 within the first 30 minutes. The other four lots still have some spaces available.