City of Victoria Update to Off-Street Parking Regulations (Schedule C)

Project Details
Service: Transportation
Client: City of Victoria
Location: Victoria, BC
Year: 2016-2018

City of Victoria Update to Off-Street Parking Regulations (Schedule C)

WATT was retained to review and update the City of Victoria’s Off-Street Parking Regulations to better align regulations with policies in the Official Community Plan and to reduce the frequency and magnitude of parking variances in new development.

CITY OF VICTORIA
2016-2018

 

The City of Victoria’s Off-Street Parking Regulations (“Schedule C” of the Zoning Bylaw) were developed in 1981 and no longer reflected more current City policies, local parking needs, and best practices in parking regulations. Victoria was seeing steady growth and development including the introduction of many new and unique forms of development which required parking variances to account for the disconnect between current parking demand and the parking rates that were established in 1981.

In February 2016, WATT Consulting Group was retained to complete a comprehensive review and update of the City of Victoria’s Off-Street Parking Regulations to better align regulations with policies in the Official Community Plan and to reduce the frequency and magnitude of parking variances in new development.

The review process was focused on an extensive original data collection and analysis process that aimed to understand local parking demand characteristics through review of over 200 multi-family residential, commercial, and hospital sites. The analysis included testing of factors that influence parking demand, such as location, unit size, tenure, and proximity to public transit. The results directly influenced the minimum parking supply rates included in the updated regulations.

Extensive stakeholder and public engagement was included in the process to identify and test innovations for inclusion in the new Schedule C. These included studying local demographics to determine if more barrier free parking was needed than what was prescribed in the BC Building Code at the time, options to require electric vehicle charging facilities, conditions for carshare in multi-family residential uses, and ensuring landscape and pedestrian facilities in surface parking lots.

Poster board from Open House seeking feedback on proposed key changes to parking regulations.

Poster board from Open House showing proposed parking regulations by geographic area.

Schedule C was adopted by the City in the summer of 2018 and will help achieve its broad objectives related to sustainable transportation, urban development, and affordable housing.

View the Schedule C document here.

Transportation Team

Project Partners

  • City of Victoria
  • Van Hemert + Associates

Experience Profile – PDF

WATT Transportation – City of Victoria Update of Off Street Parking – Experience Sheet 2021.06.16