Staff photo. North side of Queen Street in Dryden
Dryden Council has altered its municipal parking by-law and is now allowing free access on the north side of Queen Street along the railway fencing.
A paid permit was required for anyone planning to stay longer than two hours.
Councillor Michelle Price made the request on behalf of downtown business owners due to a lack of parking for employees and freeing up more space on downtown streets for customers.
Price notes, “We have part-time workers down there only working a couple of hours a day that will have to pay the same price that someone works full-time. There’s plenty of students down there that make minimum wage will have to pay the same.”
She adds, “For the ones that are down there every day and having to pay for that service, we need to be able to help them out.”
Price notes it’s more important now more than ever to help businesses and employees recover from COVID-19 restrictions.
Her motion to amend the parking by-law recently received unanimous support from her fellow Council members.
Meantime, Chief Administrative Officer Roger Nesbitt says parking enforcement is in effect for the rest of the downtown core.
“Our bylaw enforcement officer has been busy in the downtown core issuing warnings so that we can enforce the two-hour on-street parking restriction in those areas.”
Nesbitt says the same applies to those parking in municipal parking lots.
He notes fines will be issued after a period of warnings.
Mayor Greg Wilson has called for a review of parking rules in all municipal spaces.
