THUNDER BAY – Aspiring lawyers studying at Lakehead University won’t be getting parking relief any time soon.
A recent two-hour limit initiated for parking spaces adjacent to Waverly Park on Waverly Street will be reviewed after a year, but will remain in place until that time, said Jonathan Paske, the city’s parking authority manager.
Students at the nearby Bora Laskin Faculty of Law were hoping the city might reconsider upping the limit from two hours to four hours, a notion shot down earlier this year by city council.
Paske said the parking spaces are almost always full, and rotating vehicles in and out every couple of hours allows access to the park, St. Paul’s United Church, Magnus Theatre and the Thunder Bay Armoury, all found in the immediate vicinity.
Members of the public had complained about a shortage of free public parking, saying the spaces were almost always occupied, especially during the fall and winter when the four-year-old law school was in session.
“Basically all the spaces along Waverly Street, along the park, were taken up first thing in the morning and were taken up for the remainder of the day, so the cars were there long-term,” Paske said, adding it wasn’t just students using the spaces for several hours at a time, but also workers in the downtown core.
Allister McGillivary, vice-president external of the law student society, said students at the school were caught off guard a year or so ago, when the new limit came into effect.
While the parking authority issued warnings and tore up first-time tickets, students who spent more than two hours in class or at the school were finding more and more $30 parking tickets attached to their vehicles when leaving for the day.
Prior to the change, it was a full-day limit.
“So students would be able to park and leave their cars and not have to worry about getting a ticket.”
“Generally our classes range from an hour-and-15 minutes to up to three hours … Generally they’re here for the whole day,” McGillivary said on Wednesday.
Crafty students tried to get around the ban by moving their vehicles from spot to spot, but parking authority staff caught on and still issued tickets.
“I think students are a little upset because when the school was planned, this was parking where everybody could park. It seemed like there was a benefit for the school, but also a benefit for the downtown core,” McGillivray said.
Paske said students can still park for free for two hours and can also negotiate paid parking agreements with nearby businesses, including Magnus and St. Paul’s United Church. There is also a city-owned parking garage in the vicinity.
