Upgrades to City Hall and VIC Parking Lots
January 14, 2022
Parking lots at City Hall and the Visitor Information Centre will receive a makeover in 2022 with increased parking, upgraded EV charging stations, and a variety of staging area and experiential enhancements.
Funding for this work has been secured through the Tourism Dependant Community Fund under the ‘Journey to Iconic Fernie’ project.
The proposed design sees the number of parking stalls at the Visitor Information Centre increase from 18 to 49, with the addition of four EV charging stations, three accessible stalls, and four RV spaces.
This project aims to increase available parking at the starting point to some of Fernie’s favourite hiking and biking trails, while addressing safety concerns at the Visitor Information Centre caused by long queues of vehicles and RVs along the highway and intersections waiting to enter and exit this area. Congestion at this location worsens annually with increased numbers of visitors, locals, and industrial traffic alongside RVs queuing to access the Sani Dump.
Staff are working on an interim location for the Sani Dump while a new permanent location is identified and completed so any disruption is minimized.
Proposed solutions include improvements to the City-owned lot across from the Railyard Dog Park, featuring a proper water-fill station and Sani Dump.
The City is also in early discussion with the RDEK about the possibility of adding of a Sani Dump at the Fernie Waste Transfer Station.
Improvements to the City Hall and Visitor Information parking lots are expected to complete by May 2022.
Above: Proposed design for the Visitor Information Centre Parking Lot
Above: Proposed design for City Hall Parking Lot
