Saint John eliminates illegal parking lots, increases rates

Parking rates in Saint John increased Friday, on the same daythree illegal lots were shut down, decreasing the number of spaces available.

Last year, the city sought legal action against Daeres Property Management over four of its private parking lots. Owner Paul Deares acknowledged that the lots were not in compliance with city bylaws.

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In Septemberthe city authorized legal action against several owners of unregistered parking lots. Among those lotswere those owned by Daeres Property Management.

Owner Paul Daeres said he paid the property taxes on all his lots and claimed all but one were zoned correctly.

Daeres was ordered to shutdown the remainder of his lots on Germain Street at the end of March.

He provided parking for $65 a month to30customers, includinghis tenants,and nowhiscustomers are left without a place to park.

Think the city should be concentrating on more important issues-Resident, Nancy Riven.

"They're there for over 30 years so, all long-term customers know they're looking for places to park,"he said.

Uptown resident Nancy Riven lives around the corner on Prince William Street. While walking her dogs through Daeres' vacant lot, she said she doesn't agree with the city shutting it down.

"Think the city should be concentrating on more important issues," she said.

The lots, Daeres said, will be open for dog walkers like Riven to enjoy. But, he said he isn't going to add any landscaping.

The renegade lots are not the only parking casualties at the beginning of April. A 77-spot, city-run lot on the corner of Wellington Row and Union Street is nowclosed.

That area will soon be the home of anew NB Liquor store.

Saint John Parking and Transit Commission CEO Ian MacKinnon said about a dozen driverswho used to park there took over the remaining monthly spots in the nearby Peel Plaza parking garage.

"We're very happy," MacKinnon said about seeing the rest of the 265 monthly spots finally rented.

It took several years for the $19-million garage to reach its potential, confounding many in the city who saw it as a waste of public money.

MacKinnon said having its monthly rentals full is a great thing, but,"financially speaking we're monitoring the performance of that garage closely."

The price of hourly parking also went up by a quarteranhour.MacKinnon said the rate hike was the first of its kind since 2009.

"We badly needed to offset the rising cost of maintenance; this will go a long ways to, in off-setting that increase."

Most city-run parking lots received arate hike of between three to five per centat the beginning of March. The only parking lot without an increasewas the Peel Plaza garage.