The Town of Drumheller is wrapping up its first full paid parking season, which launched on May 1 of this year, and has seen the program gross a total of $112,686.98 at Town-owned parking lots and street parking on Riverside Drive East.
Drumheller council approved the implementation of a paid parking program in June 2023, with the goal to help offset additional pressures put on the Town’s infrastructure and municipal services during the spring and summer months due to increased visitor and tourist traffic.
“Costs (for additional pressures on infrastructure and municipal services) were borne by taxpayers, and the goal of paid parking was not to make anybody’s life difficult, but to reasonably recoup costs and to find a fair way to do this to visitors to the valley,” explained Emergency and Protective Services director Greg Peters during the Tuesday, October 15 Committee of the Whole meeting.
During the soft launch of the program in October 2023, stakeholders shared concerns about how the paid parking program may impact attendance at tourist attractions like the World’s Largest Dinosaur and home games for the Drumheller Dragons at the Drumheller Memorial Arena. However, during a presentation by Municipal Enforcement manager Trent Kure, it was noted the parking area of the World’s Largest Dinosaur saw the second highest earnings, bringing in $36,569.87; the Hoodoos parking area had the highest earnings with a total of $49,908.16.
Between May 1 and September 30 of 2024, a total of 245 violation tickets were issued. Of those tickets issued, 44 per cent were voluntarily paid, which accounted for $5,400 in revenue. Unpaid tickets have posed a challenge and will be recouped through the province’s fine procedure.
Mr. Kure noted having an officer presence helped to not only increase compliance, but also helped reduce the number of violations for unpaid parking. Staffing costs accounted for $12,554.57 in expenses.
In total, the program netted $67,527.97 after expenses for the reported period. Mr. Kure explained some expenses, including $8,410.42 for signage and $10,000 for start-up costs associated with the HotSpot residential parking permits, are expected to be reduced in future years.
However, during this pilot period, some challenges were identified. This includes a lack of cell service at the Hoodoos parking area, which limited visitor ability to pay; this could also extend to out-of-country visitors who may not have access to a wireless network. It was suggested these issues could be addressed by having a wireless internet connection available, though this would incur additional costs for installation as well as monthly charges.
A total of 2,759 residential parking permits have been issued to date, which will be valid through to October 31, 2027; an additional 142 special recreation exempt permits have also been issued for non-residents who hold memberships at the Badlands Community Facility (BCF) and, or Aquaplex which will expire and renew in accordance with each individual recreation membership.
