Richmond City Council would like to add a 44-stall temporary parking lot at 8620 and 8660 Beckwith Rd.
For commuters like Catherine Miller, who works in downtown Vancouver, it’s a struggle in the morning to get a spot in the one parkade available at River Rock.
Parking near Bridgeport Station on Beckwith Road in Richmond. Screenshot via Google Street View.
If she arrives before 8:30 a.m., she can usually find a spot – otherwise she will be circling around trying to find street parking, and usually ends up walking 15 minutes to the train along a muddy pathway.
She might luck out on a Friday when it’s a bit quieter, and find a spot after 8:30 a.m.
A few times, she couldn’t find a spot anywhere so she drove downtown.
Miller previously parked in the casino’s large free parking lot, but that was shut down in August.
The news of a new possible parking lot was welcome, but she would like to see more.
Miller’s message to council is, “(if) you want to encourage people to take the Canada Line and not use our cars, give us more parking spots.”
Busing from her home on No. 6 Road is not an option as that would add 45 minutes to each end of her commute.
Normally, parking isn’t allowed in light industrial areas, but council passed a bylaw allowing temporary parking lots in the Bridgeport Village area, if a temporary commercial use permit is approved.
Part of the 8620 Beckwith Rd. property is paved but the city doesn’t plan to pave the remainder, rather to install dividers to mark the spots on the city-owned properties.
The stalls on Beckwith, if approved, would be rented out monthly at a rate of $41/each. It will cost the city $37,000 in upfront costs and is expected to bring in $15,700 in the first year.
A public hearing for the bylaw is planned for May 21.
