While few if any Vancouverites would argue with the City’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to slow global climate change, not everyone agrees that charging additional fees on new gas-powered luxury vehicles and penalizing residents for parking on city streets will be effective. Nor is there consensus that the proposed approach is fair to those who can least afford to pay some of the new charges.

Although many have praised the Climate Emergency Parking Plan (CEPP) —the first steps towards implementing the City’s full Climate Emergency Action Plan — (CEAP), at least one Vancouver Councillor is skeptical.

This is a “cash grab dressed up as a climate emergency response,” Coun. Colleen Hardwick said of the plan in a June 16 interview with the Daily Hive, accusing the City of treating Vancouverites like “ATMs.” She blamed the City for not managing its own finances, saying the plan would become another revenue source for the government and won’t “keep a diesel truck off the road, electrify a city vehicle, or plant a tree.”

Announced this week, the plan proposes mandatory parking permits for residential streets in Vancouver plus a “pollution fee” aimed at owners of new gas-powered luxury vehicles, sports cars and large pick-up trucks.

Here are some of the details:

• The CEPP is one part of the CEAP, a wide-ranging 371-page plan to reduce pollution that Council approved in 2020.
• If passed by Council, CEPP will slap fees on owners of new SUVs and large pick-up trucks built in 2023 or newer with annual charges of $1,000; owners of small gas-powered SUVs and sedans with models dated 2023 or newer would pay $500.
• At the same time, CEPP proposes a new overnight parking permit charge for all vehicle owners who park on Vancouver streets. These charges would apply to tenants as well as homeowners, and even visitors from outside the city. This would apply to all unregulated streets and lanes, and to streets with “residents only” signs. Once enacted, vehicle owners would need to purchase a yearly permit ($45) to park in front of their own home overnight. Visitors or service vehicles could park anywhere on the street between 7 am and 10 pm, but an overnight parking fee of three dollars is being considered. (Under the plan, guests who visit friends for dinner would have to pay the City three dollars if they stayed past 10 pm.)

This scheme still requires Council approval, so none of the planned changes will come until a Council vote, expected in the fall. The City, however, is already looking for vendors to provide license-plate recognition systems that would allow enforcement of the plan.

The public has been invited to weigh in on the plan by completing a short survey. Deadline is July 5, 2021.

In addition to taking the survey, those with objections or questions should contact City Councillors, as only the survey outcome percentages are disclosed to Council, and not citizens’ concerns.  

The City is also moving ahead with its plan to charge a toll on all vehicles entering the Downtown or Broadway cores. Money collected from these plans will be used to pay for other elements of the CEAP, though no details have been spelled out to the public.

Read the entire interview with Coun. Hardwick.