At its November meeting council unanimously approved increasing the parking limit from two to three hours in the downtown from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the month of December.
The change will be in place on the east of Granville Street and the west of Central Street and Queen, on the north by Fitzroy Street and on the south by Harbour Drive, including both sides of the main streets within those areas.
The hope is that more people will shop downtown during the holidays. Parking in the city’s downtown is free.
“We are going to try it for three hours to see if it increases business. If it doesn’t, then we’ve all tried something,” said Mayor Basil Stewart. “Two hours is not very long. A few weeks ago, we had someone go downtown to get their hair done and came out and had a $25 ticket. That doesn’t bode very well.”
