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Council adjusts parking time limits in Summerland downtown

Published 3:30 pm Wednesday, January 21, 2026

By John Arendt

Summerland parking time allotments are changing. The time allowed for parking on Wharton Street will increase from two hours to all-day parking. In other parts near the downtown, three-hour time limits will replace the two-hour time limits. (John Arendt/Summerland Review)

Summerland parking time allotments are changing. The time allowed for parking on Wharton Street will increase from two hours to all-day parking. In other parts near the downtown, three-hour time limits will replace the two-hour time limits. (John Arendt/Summerland Review)

Summerland will expand parking limits in much of the downtown from two hours to three hours.

The decision, which received unanimous council support, came following a report on downtown parking, presented at the Jan. 20 council meeting.

Kendra Kinsley, director of corporate services for Summerland, said the community has 499 public stalls in the downtown area when there are no construction projects or downtown patios in place.

Of these spaces, 277 are in the downtown core.

However, during the construction projects in downtown Summerland in 2025, the area lost 59 parking spaces. Another eight spaces were taken up by seasonal patio licences, leaving 218 parking stalls in Summerland’s downtown core.

Because of the limited parking, bylaw enforcement officials began enforcing the existing time-limited parking regulations.

These regulations were based on two-hour limits at most stalls.

“The random pro-active enforcement of the two-hour parking regulations downtown had a positive effect in freeing up parking availability for downtown business patrons,” Kinsley said.

She added that while most business owners appreciated the enforcement, some concerns were raised that two hours of parking was not enough time, especially for those who were also stopping for lunch downtown.

One recommendation in Kinsley’s report was to convert all two-hour parking spaces to three-hour parking, as well as convert some parking stalls near Memorial Park and some other downtown lots to full-day parking. This would create 80 full-day parking stalls and 297 three-hour parking stalls.

Coun. Janet Peake said the summer construction provided challenges for the community. During the year, crews were working on a multi-family housing facility on Henry Avenue, along with on the Wharton Street Redevelopment Project, which affected Wharton Street, a portion of Victoria Road and other areas in and near the downtown.

Coun. Richard Barkwill said the parking pressures seen during summer 2025 do not seem as prominent now.

Mayor Doug Holmes and Coun. Erin Trainer said the three-hour time limit and the full-day time limit both make sense for the community.

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