Free parking at Spanish Banks Beach will soon be a thing of the past.
As of Friday, July 12, the city and parks board will begin charging $1 per hour to park at the beach.
The City of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»will be taking care of street parking while the parks board will deal with the 744 spots in the lots along the beach.
The lots will have no time limits as far as the fees go, but they are closed from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily; those are the same as the current hours the beach is open.
The parks board voted to install the machines and to begin charging earlier this year. Currently, the machines are part of a 12-month pilot project, but it could become permanent.
EasyPark will take care of enforcement. The parks board expects to bring in $70,000 through the new parking fees.
Before the vote, there was a public outcry and 6,000 people signed a petition against the fees; Spanish Banks is the last beach in Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»with free parking.
Parks board administration told commissioners in April that the move to convert to paid parking would lessen the impact on the Point Grey neighbourhood surrounding the beach.
It is also expected to help the board reach its goal of increasing parking revenue by $500,000.
