Another petition from the residents of the Fairway Green condominium development at the corner of Fairway and Goldstream avenues has finally resulted in a possible change to the parking situation near one of Langford’s major thoroughfares.
Fairway Green had issued a request to council in February of 2011 to adjust the parking near the intersection to create commercial parking designated exclusively for the facility, or limited-time public parking. Langford council took no action at that time.
Now, it seems, based on the recommendation from the city’s transportation and public works committee, Fairway Green residents might get their way.
Council was to consider the recommendation from the committee on Monday night (after the Gazette’s press deadline) to have city staff install new parking signage at an approximate cost of $1,500, plus a estimated $78 for annual maintenance. The proposed changes call for a maximum of two-hour parking, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the parking scallops on the north and west sides of Fairway Avenue at Goldstream.
The committee also recommended instructing city staff to re-grade the Fairway Avenue shoulder at an approximate cost of $2,000, to be funded through the Small Road Improvements budget, and change the parking restrictions from the existing “No Parking” restriction to the time-limited condition set out by those installed signs.
The parking restrictions are necessary, according to a petition from Fairway Green, because when VIHA (now known as Island Health) made the parking lot at The Priory care facility into a pay lot – across the street and one block south on Goldstream Avenue from Fairway Green – workers there began using the parking scallops fronting Fairway Green during business hours.
The committee recommendation stated the re-grading is required to accommodate the new parking allowances – people currently park there, despite signs to the contrary from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. – and to keep the shoulder from getting “messy with mud and organic debris during the wet months.”
If the recommendations are enacted, additional bylaw enforcement time would need to be added to the budget to patrol the area, at an amount not yet identified.