North Battleford council heard from a courier challenged with parking downtown at its recent meeting. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Servicing the downtown

Local courier asks for city’s help with parking challenges

Mar 14, 2019 | 11:37 AM

A North Battleford courier is asking for the city’s help after having ongoing problems trying to find a place to temporarily park his vehicle for delivery service downtown.

Tracy George made a presentation asking for a formal delivery zone downtown at city council’s recent meeting.

“I would like to see a little bit of a change for parking for us in the downtown core,” he told council during his presentation. “It’s really hard for us to do our job.”

George, who served the community for 28 years, said the problem is on the 1100 and 1200 blocks of 101 Street.

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He said the issue started long before the city’s recent downtown revitalization work, and dates back to the time when the city parking spaces were first delineated. He said it’s especially difficult for him to park the van he uses for work when making his deliveries.

“This has been building for years for all of us. It’s just frustrating,” George said.

He added he received a number of parking tickets while doing his job. George said he often anticipates a parking ticket as part of the day’s work.

He added a lack of accessible business back-door entrances is also a problem.

Mayor Ryan Bater said the issue would be best discussed in more detail at the city’s next planning meeting to see if anything can be done to improve the situation.

“It’s good that he brought that information (forward),” Bater said following the meeting. “It’s obvious that it has started a conversation among council.”

“We want to make the downtown attractive for pedestrians, consumers and for businesses,” Bater added. “A courier is what gets goods to downtown businesses, so that’s important for us to consider. Council appreciates the delegation tonight and looks forward to further discussion on it.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow