Importantly, this enjoyment can be found daily without the barrier of parking fees. Parking is free in most of our regional parks, with the exception of Sooke Potholes and Thetis Lake during the summer season when tourists (who don’t pay taxes for park use) are amongst the visitors. The CRD’s parks committee, which I do not sit on, began looking at new funding streams for parks in 2019, including potentially introducing parking fees. Residents already pay for our regional park system through a levy to the CRD. In Central Saanich, the oldest regional park, Island View, is mentioned in the Regional Parks Committee Report as a potential location for pay parking.
“You don’t make such change to our parks without consulting our public.” He said parking rates of $2.25 per day or $20 per season will climb to “punitive” rates of $7 a day and $60 a season by 2023 under the system presented to the committee. Screech said the current rates are affordable. “And possibly I can get behind that sort of an amount, but when you look at $7, in two years, for a family to go to Thetis or any number of the parks for $60 a season, that’s a whole different amount,” he said. “For low-income families, it’s a huge amount of money.”
A staff report recommends adding paid seasonal parking in 2022 to nine parks, with a gradual implementation over three years. This, along with existing fees, would generate $1.9 million annually.
The parks are Devonian, East Sooke, Elk/Beaver Lake, Francis/King, Horth Hill, Matheson Lake, Mill Hill, Mount Work and Witty’s Lagoon.
Saanich Coun. Rebecca Mersereau, the parks committee chairwoman, said the parks were chosen largely based on the number of visitors they get.
Not on the list is Island View Beach Regional Park, even though Mersereau said a lot of people seem to think it is. “I would say the majority of emails in my inbox do concern Island View,” she said.
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