The City of Lacombe is adding parking stalls to its 49th Street parking lot.

City council approved the downtown parking improvements, which include angled parking along 49B Avenue.

According to a city release, the improvements come after the City conducted surveys and engaged with the adjacent property owner north of the 5026 49th Street parking lot. The surveys gathered opinions on parking, streetscapes, and amenities from residents, visitors, and business owners.

“Our residents love living and working in Downtown Lacombe,” Mayor Grant Creasey said. “Creating additional parking means creating more access to the core businesses and amenities which help make Lacombe great. Council will continue to seek methods to improve parking capacity downtown.”

The improvement on 49B Avenue will add seven additional stalls downtown this year. The 49th Street parking lot alteration will create five stalls next to the Blacksmith Shop.

The survey asked residents to share their downtown parking needs and consider different streetscape elements and amenities.

The city received responses from 352 residents over six weeks, 323 of which were from members of the general public and 29 from business owners, operators, and employees near the 49th Street Lot and along 49B Avenue.

Parking ranked as the top “amenity” choice, with benches and waste bins ranking second and third overall. Eighty-four percent of respondents reported parking for two hours or less, and 69 per cent reported parking for one hour or less. A complete summary of the results is available on The City of Lacombe website.

The Downtown Area Redevelopment Plan (DARP) committee had previously made a motion recommending Council support the parking changes to 49B Avenue and 49th Street, along with including the top three priority amenities (benches, waste bins, and landscaping) in spaces unusable for parking.