Ottawa 2020

Transportation Master Plan

Chapter 10 – Parking

The City’s actions in pursuit of its transportation goals will acknowledge the ability of parking supply and price to influence how people choose to travel. Parking areas are also a major consumer of land, and the treatment of parking within developments can either help or hinder the achievement of compact communities. Notwithstanding these concerns, adequate parking is an issue of vital importance to Ottawa’s businesses and institutions. Parking enables them to remain accessible to employees, customers and visitors who travel by automobile, whether by need or choice. The interests of employers, stores, service providers and tourism destinations must be considered in the development of a balanced parking system.

Parking services provided directly by the City include on-street parking, several off-street parking lots and garages, and enforcement of parking by-laws. These services have significant costs, but also generate significant revenues. As well, through its land use planning functions, the City also influences the supply of parking in new developments, and has some regulatory control over privately run off-street public parking lots.

With these considerations in mind, the City maintains the following strategic objectives related to parking:

  • To provide short-term parking that supports the vital interests of local businesses, institutions and tourism destinations
  • To limit the supply of long-term parking to levels that balance the needs of automobile users with the City’s transit ridership objectives, while minimizing spill-over parking in residential areas
  • To minimize the amount of land devoted to parking uses through shared parking arrangements and the use of parking structures

This chapter identifies policies concerning on-street parking and off-street parking, whether owned by the City or by others. This plan also addresses matters related to parking in Chapter 4 (land use issues), Chapter 6 (bicycle parking), Chapter 7 (Park & Ride lots), and Chapter 8 (preferential carpool parking and carpool parking lots).

The City will:

  1. Develop a Parking Management Strategy that:
    1. Supports the City’s strategic parking objectives
    2. Establishes centralized parking lots within a reasonable walking distance of multiple destinations, where required
    3. Accounts for potential changes to the current supply through redevelopment of existing lots
    4. Investigates new technologies for payment, enforcement and user information
    5. Provides an adequate supply of bicycle parking
    6. Addresses the needs of the tourism industry
  2. Maintain ten-year parking system targets and a five-year implementation plan that identifies candidate locations for new parking lots owned or operated by the City, for monitoring and analysis
  3. Ensure that sufficient short-term parking is available for business, service and tourism destinations, particularly those in the Central Area, by:
    1. Providing on-street parking that does not compromise the achievement of targeted service levels for all modes
    2. Placing a priority on short-term parking space provision in City-controlled parking facilities, in addition to short-term spaces provided in private facilities
    3. Providing short-term parking to be owned or operated by the City within mixed use developments, wherever possible
    4. Encouraging the Province of Ontario to enact legislation enabling the City to regulate the amount, location, rates, hours of operation, signage, and other operating features of parking in new development
  4. Working with other levels of Government, destination points, tour operators, and tourism authorities to prepare a tour bus parking strategy for areas near destination points
  5. Discourage the use of vacant lands as temporary facilities for long-term parking
  6. Review and update the City’s Zoning By-law to establish parking requirements for new developments that are consistent with Transportation Master Plan objectives. The By-law will minimize potential conflicts among land uses by regulating issues such as parking and loading requirements, landscaping, buffering and setbacks.
  7. Consider reducing parking requirements for new developments where transit service is adjacent to or can be incorporated into a development, or where walking and/or cycling have high modal shares, provided that the applicant demonstrates that reduced parking standards will meet expected parking demands and will neither aggravate parking supply in the area nor lead to spill-over parking in adjacent areas
  8. Consider reducing parking requirements for new mixed-use developments where parking facilities can be shared between employment and retail components, or where facilities can be shared between residential and employment or retail components while preserving adequate, safe, secure and convenient parking for residents
  9. Update the City’s Cash-in-Lieu of Parking policy, as appropriate, in accordance with the City’s growth management principles
  10. Conduct marketing initiatives that will:
    1. Develop a unique, recognizable brand for City parking products and services
    2. Communicate the City’s parking positioning and stance to target users
    3. Place a price premium on the most desirable short-term parking locations, where appropriate, while providing greater value for parkers at other locations
    4. Encourage the use of off-street parking lots rather than on-street parking
    5. Involve Business Improvement Areas and other partner agencies
    6. Measure overall revenue performance and customer satisfaction

Next: Chapter 11 - Intercity Travel