Virginia Park residents concerned about parking chaos during upcoming events

Residents who live in the neighbourhood of Virginia Park have plenty of experience having to compete for parking during major events and summer festivals. 

The neighbourhood has seen numerous events happen within walking distance, including KDays, Edmonton Heritage Festival and last weekend's Rockin' Thunder concerts. 

But this weekend the neighbourhood will face a double whammy: The Weeknd performs a concert Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium while KDays is happening at nearby Edmonton Expo Centre and Exhibition Grounds.

Debbie Boccabella has lived in the Virginia Park neighbourhood for 24 years and says how much of a nightmare parking is depends on the event and whether residential parking rules are in effect. 

"The parking for KDays, people come and go. It's residential parking for the football games, which that doesn't make much sense to me, why they can park for the exhibition, but not for the football games," Boccabella told CBC on Wednesday. 

"We do have a problem during Heritage Days, because a third of Edmonton comes here, and they park everywhere. [The city] put up some signs when you enter the neighbourhood about residential parking. But people ignore them. They park on the sides of the streets." 

CBC spoke to multiple residents who say they are concerned about blind spots in neighbourhood and safety concerns that become exacerbated during events when people are on the hunt for a parking spot. 

 "KDays and other controlled events where the festival goers are allowed to park without the normal restrictions, it's quite chaotic," said resident Howard Gibb.

"I have concerns, as we all do, about just the congestion and chaos and possible chances of accidents," said Gibb pointing to the intersection of 79th Street and 112th S Avenue. 

"That corner over there behind us, there is signage saying not to park there, and that's for a good reason." 

Jenny Albers, acting director of traffic operations with the City of Edmonton, told CBC the city is excited about the number of events happening in the coming weeks. 

For The Weeknd concert this Saturday there is no parking at Commonwealth Stadium and parking restrictions in neighbourhoods around the stadium will be in effect from 3 p.m. to midnight on Saturday.

The city said this is standard practice for parking around Commonwealth Stadium during major events.

When restrictions are in place, only residents with valid parking permits can park on streets in those areas and the permits must be displayed during the parking restriction hours. Vehicles parked without valid permits may be fined $100 and towed.

The Commonwealth LRT parking lot closes on July 19 at 5 p.m. and the city encourages concert-goers to consider other forms of transportation, such as taking ETS, cycling, ridesharing or taxi.

Edmonton Transit Service will allow The Weeknd concert tickets to be accepted as valid fare up to 90 minutes before the concert start time and 90 minutes after the concert ends. 

During KDays, the parking enforcement team will be monitoring 311 inquiries to respond to parking infractions. Parking enforcement is in effect for Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 9 p.m., and Monday from 12  to 8 p.m.

The city asks residents or visitors in Virginia Park and other surrounding areas to contact 311 using the app if there are any parking or traffic safety issues during the event. 

Daniel Nider, who has lived in the Virginia Park neighbourhood for 33 years, said he hopes the city includes more proactive signage so non-residents are not left wondering where to park. 

Especially after roadwork was done on 112th Avenue in 2019.

"When they redid the street, they made it narrower. So it's hard to get two cars by sometime when it where there was more," Nider said.

"It was easy to drive, but now it gets busy, a little bit tight. You gotta watch slow down hard to pass two cars by with two cars parked on either side already."