Newmarket has plenty of on-street parking to meet current and future needs, according to the preliminary findings of an ongoing residential parking study.
WSP Canada found that most streets in the community have plenty of parking available, with most having below 40 per cent parking utilization. A final report is to come to council later in 2025.
WSP has conducted observations and a survey over the past few months, with 84 per cent of respondents not experiencing issues with finding on-street parking for themselves. WSP Canada senior project manager Brett Sears said most places have space available and there should be enough to meet demand through to 2051.
“Typically, there is plenty of on-street parking,” Spears said, adding that part of that is time limits existing for on-street parking. “Parking on the street really is a convenience. It’s not a place for storage because you’re not able to park there long-term.”
The study is part of Newmarket’s ongoing planning process and will be incorporated into its official plan changes. The study will review parking data, how Newmarket compares to other communities, residential driveway standards and parking requirements.
So far, WSP has reviewed literature, examined street utilization over several weeks and consulted with more than 900 people in the community. The firm plans to do further consultation in the months ahead, before producing a report with recommendations in 2025.
WSP Canada made several observations based on its first months of study. Although it found that most areas have plenty of parking available, the picture is different near Southlake Regional Health Centre. There, street parking utilization is at 49 per cent or higher, compared to most areas having less than 30 per cent of street parking utilized.
Sears said paid parking charges in the area drive higher utilization.
“People don’t want to pay there,” he said, but added, “Those areas are quite limited in the town, but maybe you’re still getting calls about that.”
WSP Canada also found that the municipality has more stringent parking minimums for larger developments like triplexes and fourplexes compared to many neighbouring jurisdictions. WSP consultants floated the idea of reducing parking minimums during a council session in 2023, but some councillors expressed skepticism on the idea.
Most parking violations relate to overnight parking, about 35 per cent of parking violations, WSP said in its preliminary findings. But residents are somewhat split on current parking laws, with 54 per cent of survey respondents finding that they are too restrictive.
The study could be consequential for bike lanes in the community. The town’s active transportation plan has been suspended for years, in part to wait for the results of this study. This came after residents protested the loss of on-street parking that would come from proposed bike lanes going onto several residential streets in 2020.
Councillors expressed that there were many issues to cover relating to this study.
“This is a huge topic that is going to have such an impact on how people in Newmarket live in the next 10 to 15 years,” Deputy Mayor Tom Vegh said.
“This is our time to get it right, and I’d rather take the time to be able to ask the questions and make sure that we are reflecting the concerns that we see and hear,” Councillor Christina Bisanz said.
Newmarket Major John Taylor pushed for the discussion to go into a councillor workshop at a later date to go more in-depth.
“People were very engaged in this topic, as you probably discovered already. The word parking gets a lot of attention in this community and we just want to make sure we’re getting to all the areas and topics,” Taylor said.
