More parking spaces will soon be coming to one of Harrison Hot Springs' busiest areas.
The village council recently approved a three-year temporary use permit for two adjacent vacant lots at 490 and 498 Esplanade Avenue to be set up as a 64-stall parking lot.
The upcoming project was first brought to council back in July. The proposed parking lot will be gravel and be fitted with plastic curbs and concrete barriers.The village bylaws require that a lot of this size have six accessible parking stalls, and the applicant is preparing space for eight.
There is no available estimate as to when the parking lot will be installed at this time.
The parking lot – which would be situated across from the lagoon – would relieve some of the pressure put on the village's parking infrastructure, particularly during high tourism season. According to a parking master plan study from the IBI Group back in 2021, researchers projected parking demand would rise by 75 per cent, which means they estimate between 350 and 600 parking spaces would need to be added to the waterfront area of Harrison Lake in order to meet demand.
As of the time of the study, there were 2,384 parking spaces in Harrison Hot Springs, 110 of which were off-street and 626 of which were on considered on the waterfront.
During this study, IBI Group surveyed 110 locals with an 18-part questionnaire, gathering suggestions on how to improve parking in the village. Some suggestions from the residents are currently being implemented, including 15-minute free parking stalls in certain areas of Esplanade Avenue (the original suggestion was 20 minutes) and expanded time limits from three hours to four hours in the major pay parking zones.
