A paid parking program within areas of the Drumheller community, which will help support additional pressures on existing infrastructure and services due to influxes of visitors to the valley, was approved by Drumheller town council during the regular Monday, June 5 council meeting.
The item had first come before the Committee of the Whole in February this year, and it was suggested paid parking could be implemented at several locations within the Town frequented by visitors; at the time, council directed administration to explore pay parking app systems to help reduce installation costs, and allow users to pay for parking electronically through their smartphone.
Hotspot Parking Inc. was awarded the contract in April, and it is anticipated the system and all signage will be implemented in July this year. Along with implementing the paid parking program, Hotspot would also manage a residential permit system which will exempt local Drumheller residents from the program.
Director of Protective Services Greg Peters explained Hotspot is charging $5,250 to manage the residential exemption portion of the program, and will also take some 15 per cent for the municipality’s use of the system.
The program would help to capture funding from more than a half million visitors who come to the region annually. While these visitors help to bolster the local economy, the influx also places additional demands and pressures on municipal services, infrastructure, and resources.
The program would include approximately 52 parking stalls at the World’s Largest Dinosaur, some 30 sites at the parking lot located at the corner of Riverside Drive West and 2 Street West across from the Rotary Splash Park, an estimated 220 parking stalls at Badlands Community Facility (BCF), and some 31 parking stalls in the parking lot behind the Town of Drumheller municipal building.
At this time, the program will not include parking in the downtown business core.
It is intended for the program to run during the height of the tourism season-between May 1 and October 31. Funds collected from the paid parking program would be used to help support existing services which face additional pressures due to the influx of tourists annually.
Mr. Peters explained during council discussions, although the initial direction was to explore paid parking options, the Town could miss the 2023 seasonal window for this program due to the time needed to set up the system and install signage, and it is anticipated the system should be fully ready to go by July.
The Town hopes to hold some community engagement sessions to communicate information about the parking program to residents and alleviate any concerns they may have about the program.
Council approved the request to implement the paid parking program.

Starland County is feeling the pinch of inflation like every resident in Alberta and this is reflected in its budget and mill rate.
The County passed its budget and Tax Rate Bylaw at its council meeting on May 18. It calls for an approximate two per cent increase overall.
“Some went up, some went down. Corporate went up a little bit, linear went up a little bit,” explains CAO Christopher Robbie.
He notes that residential assessments were up as property prices across the province have been driven upwards.
“We are happy that we kept it at two per cent, and most of it was inflation of goods and services. We didn’t do any extra spending or projects, we kept the standard level of service. It seems to be working fairly well, but inflation remained challenging,” he said. “That is the biggest pressure on our budget.”
Starland County passed an operating budget of just over $16 million. Of that, $13.98 million will be made up by property tax. Starland saw a jump in its assessment with property values up overall by $32.4 million. Its total assessment was $700,266,360.
The county set its residential mill rate at 5.4154 and its non-residential rate at 20.6217. This is compared to 2022 at 5.3092 and 20.2174 respectively. Its farmland is at 14.1591 and machinery and equipment is at 20.6217.
The Drumheller and District Seniors Foundation requisition, which Starland County contributes to, was $411,731, up from $401,094.02 in 2022.
The county is hoping to boost its budget in the coming years by increasing its tax base. This year they hired an economic development officer.
“We felt it was time we focus on economic development projects that are in the county. They haven’t, in the last 10 years, had a focus on what ways the county should develop. That could be business parks, businesses, value-added agriculture or energy,” said Robbie. “These projects need a body to work them.”
He said the county is looking at small modular reactors to boost its energy sector.
“Our economic development officer is working hard on that, as well as an economic development strategy,” said Robbie.
“From an economic development standpoint, we are trying to look at ways to diversify our tax portfolio. You can’t have all residential, and you can’t all have corporate, you need it spread across small and large industry, housing.”