The city of Portage la Prairie requested the assistance of the Portage la Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce to determine what is the best approach to changing up the parking situation downtown. A survey was issued, and president Guy Moffat shares the results.

"We got quite a few responses in," says Moffat. "By and large, what we heard back from the business community was that there needs to be a strategy. So, choose what we're doing and move forward with it. But, by and large, it was to remove parking meters altogether and have free parking with a two-hour limit."

He explains monitoring will still be required under such a plan, and vehicles can't be parked on the main street or downtown all day while drives wander around town.

"It would still be making sure the cars were moving through, and people would still have the ability to find parking to do their shopping downtown."

Moffat says they learned there are two types of people who park downtown in Portage. The first is someone who parks for about 20 minutes, running into a store or a financial institution and then running back out. The second is a person who arrives at a location for an appointment, such as a financial institution or medical office. He says they typically park for about an hour and 15 minutes. That puts them just over the hour marker. Moffat explains no one is really parking for a longer period of time downtown. This means monitoring the parking along with a two-hour limit would allow for the normal, organic traffic flow we already see. However, he adds, if someone wants to park and leave the car for over two hours, they will be ticketed.

He explains everyone needs the ability to park, shop and attend appointments. Moffat says the city was open for the recommendations.,

He notes a third recommendation was to move to an electronic system if paid parking was going to be maintained. Moffat says this is a means of paying through your smartphone as opposed to a meter. He notes various types of meters present frustration, along with different amounts required to pay for parking, as well as ill repair of some of the machines. Moffat adds the city was curious about two-hour parking. They discussed various means of paying for the monitoring and ensuring it would not cost the ratepayers any additional money. He notes they were quite open for different ideas.

Moffat adds he's happy and encouraged that the city asked the Chamber to participate, noting it's a big topic for their membership, especially for those who work in the downtown area. He notes there was a genuine openness to the results they brought back to the city.