Stage One of the downtown Cochrane parking review indicates it's not as bad as many people believe. In fact, no major problem is foreseen looking 10-years forward.

What it does indicate is need for refinement of how parking spaces are used in the downtown core, particularly on main street (1st St.) in Historic Downtown and 1st and 2nd Ave. It also asks the question of whether developers are potentially over dedicating parking stalls or if the town's bylaw is requiring too much of them in south downtown (largely the Quarry).

Completed by Urban Systems, parking surveys from the summer of 2017 indicate the utilization of available parking in the Historic Downtown is about 60 per cent at peak times during the week and 50 per cent on weekends. The weekday peak utilization rate for the south downtown (largely The Quarry) is significantly less at 38 per cent on weekdays and 34 per cent on weekends. The threshold for parking is considered to be between 85 and 95 per cent utilization.

Areas included in the parking study. The blue area is referred to as "South Downtown" and yellow is "Historic Downtown."

The pressure point is in the heart of the Historic Downtown near the popular visitor destination of McKay's Ice Cream, yet on-street parking can generally be found just across the street or on the next block, states the study.

It also analyzed long-term parking in prime locations and found 10 per cent of the vehicles utilized on-street parking spots for four hours or more.

"Based on the parking patterns established through the data collection there are opportunities to better optimize the existing public and private parking supply by identifying long-term parking principles and goals," states the report in its conclusion.

Cochrane CAO Dave Devana suggested this could mean limiting parking times in these high utilization areas and encourage long-term users to park in low utilization areas.

"Overall, this study is telling us we have to think about parking differently," Drew Hyndman, senior manager of planning services, told council.

He says the data collected in stage one of the study will be used as a benchmark for the next stage of the study that will look at ways to better utilize the existing parking supply. It will also examine parking for upcoming Griffin Rd., Railway St. and River Ave. corridor projects. Stakeholders, including business owners, will be included to broaden the discussion on developing the future parking plans in the downtown.

Economic Development manager Mike Korman, who presented the bulk of the information, believes the town has an opportunity to change its approach to parking in its current land-use bylaw update in response to a question of Councillor Patrick Wilson on whether the town is requiring too much parking for new developments.

"It really depends on what you’re trying to achieve and so we need to look carefully at the land-use bylaw and understand what is the purpose within a specific area and what are we trying to achieve in that area for a look and feel."

He stressed that small-town look and feel is important to retain in certain commercial areas, particularly those that attract tourists, while others are shopping hubs for not only Cochrane residents but people from the surrounding area, like Springbank, Bearspaw and Bragg Creek.

Town councillor Tara McFadden, who gained support to have the study completed, admitted to being surprised as did councillors Alex Reed and Patrick Wilson. The others did not indicate either way.

"I think the public perception is that we actually have a parking problem and it would be interesting to get this information out and indicate it’s not really as bad as people think," said Reed.

He is interested in learning how far shoppers are willing to walk to get to their destination and questions if finding a parking spot right out front is really a factor.

"The perception that you need to be able to have a parking spot in front of a business that you want to frequent doesn’t necessarily have to hold true and I don’t know if it holds true for some members of our community."

Funding for the second stage of the study is included in the town's 2019 budget.