October 2022
Parking can be a challenge in high-density areas. High-rise communities with more cars than parking spaces find visitor parking being abused. The problem may be a shortage of space for resident parking or insufficient parking to accommodate visitors.
Parking problems occur when family and friends are encouraged to use free “visitor” parking to save money, or when residents prefer to use visitor parking rather than pay for a space or for convenience.
Visitor parking is an amenity for residents not to be monopolized by those requiring more parking spaces than they receive.
The first step in addressing parking problems is to identify the problem which may be a shortage of permanent parking spaces, shortage of visitor parking spaces or abuse of parking privileges.
The next step is to establish rules, or by-laws, to better manage parking space resources.
- Restrict resident parking space use to residents with a vehicle registered with the management office and who provide a copy of valid insurance and registration. Requiring production of these documents ensures parking spaces are not used for storage of vehicles that are not drivable.
- Place limits on use of visitor parking. Require a parking permit for each vehicle parked in visitor parking. Limits can be placed on the number of overnight visitor parking permits allowed per suite per month. Additional limitations may include maximum number of days or hours per permit.
Finally, parking rules only have value when enforced. This ensures limited parking spaces are used for their intended purpose. Parking areas can be checked one or more times a day. When a violation occurs, options range from placing a notice on the vehicle to contacting parking enforcement or a towing company.
Record keeping can be a challenge. Parking control management, a feature included with most condo management software applications, can be used to log vehicles in resident and visitor parking, and issue parking passes.
Tighter enforcement of parking ensures residents are treated fairly when access to parking is limited.
