The Town of Sidney is launching a new residential parking permit pilot program today, April 13, 2026, aimed at helping residents manage parking demand on Third Street between Sidney Avenue and Henry Avenue. The new rules introduce a three-hour parking limit from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Saturday, to address spillover parking from the downtown core.
This initiative follows a 2022 parking study conducted by WATT Consulting Group. The study found that parking near the downtown area had reached high levels of usage, with some parts of Third Street north of Mount Baker seeing average daily occupancy of 92 percent on peak days. The findings indicated that visitors, employees, and shoppers were frequently using residential streets for parking.
To help residents adjust to these changes, the town is offering annual permits for $50 per residential address. These permits will exempt residents from the new time restrictions and will remain valid until January 30, 2027. Before moving forward with the project, the town surveyed local property owners and found that more than two-thirds supported the implementation of the pilot.
Enforcement of the new parking limits will be handled through routine bylaw patrols and on a complaint basis. The Town of Sidney has already set aside $10,000 annually in the budget to cover the costs of monitoring and enforcing the area. Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith and the Town Council endorsed the recommendations from the parking study to help manage these residential pressures.
The town plans to monitor the results of the pilot over the next 6 to 12 months. If the program is successful, it could be expanded to other high-demand areas, such as First Street between Oakville Avenue and Ocean Avenue, which also experienced high parking utilization during the initial study period.
