Virginia Park residents concerned about parking chaos during upcoming events
CBC
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.
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