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Spring2008
Jun 9, 2014, 3:05 PM
Good time to start discussing as there are 3 new plus an automated parkade coming to the core over the next few years.

Some fantastic examples on how to do Carparks right by Druh Farell:

http://www.pinterest.com/calgaryward7/carparks/

Calgarian
Jun 9, 2014, 3:41 PM
If they are done anything like the SAIT parkade, then they are good, if they end up like the Palliser Parkade, then they are a FAIL! Also, they should have retail at the base facing the street like the Bow Parkade.

RWin
Jun 9, 2014, 4:06 PM
Also, they should have retail at the base facing the street like the Bow Parkade.

The Bow Parkade is still a fail though.

Calgarian
Jun 9, 2014, 4:16 PM
It's not great, but better than most parkades which are entirely single use...

freeweed
Jun 9, 2014, 4:24 PM
Car parks? Frigging foreigners. :hell: I didn't realize Druh was British.

Seriously though, where are you from originally, Spring (if you don't mind me asking)? The Canada forum has long involved discussions over Western Canada's use of "parkade" so your thread title has me curious.

Calgarian
Jun 9, 2014, 4:30 PM
Car Park makes me think of Top Gear lol

Spring2008
Jun 9, 2014, 4:37 PM
Car parks? Frigging foreigners. :hell: I didn't realize Druh was British.

Seriously though, where are you from originally, Spring (if you don't mind me asking)? The Canada forum has long involved discussions over Western Canada's use of "parkade" so your thread title has me curious.

Edm lol. No, just went with what Druh called them, and I think the level of quality of examples provided suggests an upgrade to "carparks" is appropriate haha

simster3
Jun 9, 2014, 4:49 PM
Makes me think of the Simpsons when Moe calls garages Car Holes.

freeweed
Jun 9, 2014, 4:50 PM
Edm lol. No, just went with what Druh called them, and I think the level of quality of examples provided suggests an upgrade to "carparks" is appropriate haha

I hope you realize I was "taking the piss" with you, to borrow a similarly-origined phrase. :P Never sure how serious posts here look.

And I think I agree with you. Those don't look at all like what I think of when I think "parkade". :haha: Well except SAIT. That thing is fucking gorgeous.

H.E.Pennypacker
Jun 9, 2014, 5:09 PM
Makes me think of the Simpsons when Moe calls garages Car Holes.

Wasn't it car hold?

Spring2008
Jun 9, 2014, 6:09 PM
I hope you realize I was "taking the piss" with you, to borrow a similarly-origined phrase. :P Never sure how serious posts here look.

And I think I agree with you. Those don't look at all like what I think of when I think "parkade". :haha: Well except SAIT. That thing is fucking gorgeous.

lol it's all good, knew you were taking the piss!

I agree the SAIT parkade, including the field above with the views of downtown was exceptionally done.

Spring2008
Jun 18, 2014, 3:12 PM
Interesting about the EV parkade, and where in Eau-Claire is the new parkade being built?

Downtown needs 6,500 new parking stalls downtown in 10 years: parking authority

City has been praised for its restrictive parking policy

By Jason Markusoff, Calgary Herald June 17, 2014

General manager Troy McLeod’s 10-year plan for the Calgary Parking Authority includes adding more parking stalls in the downtown and licensing the ParkPlus payment system elsewhere in Canada and abroad to increase revenue for the city.
Photograph by: Stuart Gradon , Calgary Herald

There’s enough motorist demand to nearly double the downtown parking system, but anything more than a modest increase may overload the road network, the city’s parking agency head said Monday.

Calgary Parking Authority’s new 10-year strategic plan says the current 45,000 parking spaces in the core should be augmented by 6,500 over the next decade, general manager Troy McLeod said.

About one-third of that will come from three city parkades, and the rest likely from private developers putting up new towers, McLeod told council Monday.

There’s enough demand for about 80,000 parkade and lot stalls in Calgary’s office epicentre, but the city “can’t meet all that demand” and achieve its goal of a 60/40 split between downtown transit commuting and other modes, McLeod added.

The road capacity into downtown is nearly maxed out, said Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra, a parking authority board member.

“Spatially, we cannot stuff enough cars into it,” he told reporters.

“It’s not just a question of parking down here. It’s about getting them in and out on a daily basis.”

Carra recalled a scuttled 1970s plan for an “east downtown penetrator” highway that would have levelled part of Inglewood, his own community. The city thinks differently now, and urbanists widely praise Calgary for its restrictive parking policy, he said.

However, Mayor Naheed Nenshi and other councillors will propose next week a minor review of the downtown parking policy, although not one that would open the floodgates for more parking space.

The city’s parking agency believes there’s more room to boost the ratio of office space to parking spaces, and the mayor wants the city to rethink the practice of making developers contribute cash to the Calgary Parking Authority instead of building their own spaces.

McLeod’s 10-year plan suggests that parking prices — which are already among the highest in North America — can be kept to minimal increases if the 6,500 off-street spaces are introduced. His agency also wants a greater share of the core’s total parking supply — 20 per cent instead of 14 per cent now — to help better influence prices.

Calgary Parking Authority delivered $31 million to city coffers last year. The agency plans to boost that by $10 million in a decade, partially with greater parking revenues but also through licensing the ParkPlus system to other cities.

Calgary Parking has bid for contracts to share its homegrown payment and enforcement technology in Banff, Saskatoon and Edmonton, which has been testing the machines under the EPark brand in the capital’s downtown since 2013. McLeod’s goal is to spread ParkPlus to at least 10 jurisdictions in Canada and abroad by 2024.

The parking GM also hinted at a “virtual” pay system for visitors during the Stampede, as a greater convenience of the ParkPlus cellphone and smartphone app system.

“You can just scan a QR code or 2-D code,” McLeod explained to reporters.

“That code allows you to access to the ParkPlus system just like a regular ParkPlus account holder and you get the benefit of paying for the time you use.”

The next city parkades are proposed to rise in East Village at 9th Avenue S.E., Eau Claire on 3rd Avenue S.W., and west downtown, where the Roadhouse nightclub sits on 8th Street S.W. CPA will first build the East Village parkade — with office towers and retail space built alongside — to handle visitors to the National Music Centre and future central library.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calgary/Calgary+needs+downtown+parking+stalls+years+parking/9944653/story.html

Calgarian
Jun 18, 2014, 3:21 PM
Is there a timeline on the East Village parkade? NMC should be open in about a year.

Spring2008
Jun 18, 2014, 3:43 PM
Is there a timeline on the East Village parkade? NMC should be open in about a year.

Thought I heard u/c by years end:shrug:

Surrealplaces
Jun 18, 2014, 4:34 PM
If they are done anything like the SAIT parkade, then they are good, if they end up like the Palliser Parkade, then they are a FAIL! Also, they should have retail at the base facing the street like the Bow Parkade.

The Bow Parkade is still a fail though.

Sorry, are we talking about the Bay Parkade, or the Bow Parkade?

Jimby
Jun 18, 2014, 4:46 PM
Sorry, are we talking about the Bay Parkade, or the Bow Parkade?

The Bay Parkade changed its name to Bow Parkade years before the Bow tower was built.

Surrealplaces
Jun 18, 2014, 4:54 PM
The Bay Parkade changed its name to Bow Parkade years before the Bow tower was built.

Ahh, you learn something new everyday :)

While the Bow parkade maybe a bit on the ugly side, I do really like the retail at grade. I've seen this in many other parkades in other cities where the parkades were nicer and it works well. Even here in Calgary, you could use Colors, or the parkade on 4th street and 18th ave as examples of a good way to do a parkade.

freeweed
Jun 18, 2014, 7:48 PM
Wasn't it car hold?

While I've never read the script... given the, shall we say, common vernacular they were aiming for, I'm 100% confident it was "car hole". "Car hold" sounds fancy by comparison. Of course it's always possible I've entirely missed the joke.

True story, I've had Americans make fun of how I say "garage" before - almost verbatim like that Simpsons' joke. It's priceless when I pull out "car hole" and they realize just how much life imitates art.

lineman
Jun 18, 2014, 7:59 PM
The Bow Parkade is still a fail though.

People need to gear down with the word fail when discussing something they don't like. Not singling you out, just your use of it broke the camels back so to speak and I had to rant. Sorry.

The Bay Parkade (old names die hard) is a 70ish year old structure the served a need for a period of time. Yes, it's a garish remnant of a past era and is outdated. "Fail"? No.

Full Mountain
Jun 18, 2014, 8:01 PM
People need to gear down with the word fail when discussing something they don't like. Not singling you out, just your use of it broke the camels back so to speak and I had to rant. Sorry.

The Bay Parkade (old names die hard) is a 70ish year old structure the served a need for a period of time. Yes, it's a garish remnant of a past era and is outdated. "Fail"? No.

I would argue it's one of the better parkades given it construction era, see city centre parkade and it's street interface on both 9th and 10th.

DizzyEdge
Jun 18, 2014, 8:22 PM
I would argue it's one of the better parkades given it construction era, see city centre parkade and it's street interface on both 9th and 10th.

In fact would it be the best parkade in Calgary built pre 2010?

Full Mountain
Jun 18, 2014, 8:47 PM
In fact would it be the best parkade in Calgary built pre 2010?

For above ground dedicated parkades, likely. Centennial is decent for a parkade, not a lot of retail but a good pedestrian interface.

lineman
Jun 18, 2014, 8:51 PM
You're absolutely right, full mountain. CC parkade may look prettier to some, but other than a booth to get annual parking permits, it doesn't serve any other street level purpose. Edit: I'm clearly thinking of Centennial.

Full Mountain
Jun 18, 2014, 9:19 PM
You're absolutely right, full mountain. CC parkade may look prettier to some, but other than a booth to get annual parking permits, it doesn't serve any other street level purpose. Edit: I'm clearly thinking of Centennial.

I would take the street interface of the south side of Centennial over the north side of the Bow parkade, but would take the retail on the south side of the bow over both.

GTING
Jun 18, 2014, 9:36 PM
HXJkLBj6G1k

I always thought it was car hold... I like car holes. Now back to the actual discussion.

Spring2008
Jul 2, 2014, 3:04 PM
Wow here's your answer to the robotic parkade delays:



Dumpsters block developer's plan for robotic stacked-car parkade

A Dumpster blocking the laneway between 7th and 8th Avenue at Centre Street in Calgary is causing delays to securing a permit to build a first-of-its-kind mechanized parkade in downtown Calgary.
Photograph by: Jenn Pierce , Calgary Herald

Planners and developers sometimes complain that permit delays or nagging issues city officials raise are garbage. Neil Richardson can certainly make that case.

He’s building — or at least trying to build — one of the most unusual offerings in an ever-changing downtown. It’s the first mechanized parkade in Calgary, with a rooftop restaurant above robot-stacked cars and revitalized heritage storefronts along a notoriously shabby block of 7th Avenue S.W., between Centre and 1st Street S.W.

Richardson has missed this construction season thanks to a permit process that normally takes three to six months stretching past nine months — because of trash bins.

It isn’t his project’s garbage that has gummed up the approval process. It’s the laneway Dumpsters of his back-lane neighbours, which he said shouldn’t be there in the first place. And for Richardson’s council-approved Seventh Avenue Autopark, the alley is the only way to reach a parkade between pedestrian-only Stephen Avenue and transit-only 7th Avenue.

“This is ridiculous. The bylaw says you’re not supposed to have Dumpsters in the back lane. We can’t access our site off 7th Avenue,” Richardson said. “So you’ve completely landlocked us.”

The inner-city heritage developer is hopeful he’ll find resolution with development authorities next week, figuring out a way to clear the lane of waste and recycling bins and develop a large communal bin on the parkade’s land for Stephen Avenue restaurants and business without room on their properties.

But Richardson is baffled it took this long, and was about to threaten an appeal over the delay.

After working on complex historical restoration projects such as the Lougheed House and Ramsay’s Snowdon Building, he’s familiar with the hiccups and tough requests that come with permit approvals.

He faced years of challenges with this project, which violates the city’s restrictive parking policies and drew traffic concerns from transportation planners. Council gave Richardson special zoning permission to build the 388-car parkade and 15-storey building around it, because parking revenues would let him restore the century-old buildings that line 7th Avenue.

But he finds it “absolutely, absolutely unusual” that someone else’s trash bins on public property became the final layer of red tape — especially since they shouldn’t be there in the first place. An e-mail from a city transportation engineer states none of his neighbours has explicit permission to store bins in the lane, and said officials will work toward bylaw compliance.

“It’s not like we’re saying, hey, let’s put a bunch of Dumpsters in the back lane to make it ugly. We’re saying the reverse,” Richardson said.

Pooja Thakore, a city transportation spokeswoman, said officials are looking at solutions to provide room in the lane for parkade users, emergency vehicles and other users, with or without bins sharing the space.

She disputed Richardson’s assertion the permit process has been excessive.

“It is actually a first for the city, to have this type of parkade,” she said. “So we want to make sure we are looking at all the areas, nuances and complexities of this file.”

But some planning department officials appear to have also been frustrated over what Richardson calls city “inertia.” Nine months after Richardson applied for the development permit, he could treat it as a “deemed refusal” and challenge it at the city’s subdivision and appeal board.

“Your DP would go the SDAB and no doubt cause massive embarrassment to Calgary Roads and Transportation, as well as Planning,” wrote downtown-area planning co-ordinator Richard Goecke, in an April e-mail provided to the Herald.

“I am not suggesting this is the card to play yet, but if we do not get any movement in the next 2 weeks I would not blame you one bit for taking that action.”

While he is confident a solution will come soon, Richardson is unhappy that his years-long regulatory journey on this project is still going, and that he can’t yet start construction this summer.

“Next year will cost us more to build than this year. That’s a given.”

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calgary/Dumpsters+block+developer+plan+robotic+stacked+parkade/9979108/story.html