A draft amendment to the regulation on parking fees has been submitted to the parliament. – We appeal to the decision on how to form the policy of the car park in the cities, which is adopted by the municipal councils, – said the mayor of Sopot, Magdalena Charzynska-Jachim. Earlier, the Association of Resort Municipalities also called for the regulation to be improved.
The group of deputies of the civil coalition and Trzecia Droga presented the draft amendment to the law on public roads to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. It would remove a provision that prevents the establishment of paid parking zones in cities with populations of less than 100,000. residents
The paid parking zone in the city center is different from the paid parking among others. in which you can collect payment every day, not only on working days.
– We are happy that a project has already been created (…) for this provision in the amount of PLN 100,000. residents should be removed from the act. We would like to request completely small resort communities that will not form the central areas of the city, because they do not even have a city center, but they will struggle with the problem of parking. So that they can also regulate the traffic on weekends, – said Sopot mayor Magdalena Czarzynska-Jaczym at a press conference on Friday at the board meeting of the Association of Polish Cities in Sosnowiec.
Challenges for small and medium-sized tourism cities
Magdalena Czarzynska-Jachim noted that the current rules are a problem for small and medium-sized tourist cities, such as Sopot. On weekends, residents are often unable to park in front of their homes because the free parking spaces are occupied by tourists.
– We are asking for a decision on how to shape the parking policy in cities to be adopted by the municipal councils. (…) We must not only determine the days and hours when the zone is valid, but also form the prices. In Sopot, for example, the closer to the coast, the speed should be higher to encourage visitors to use buffer parking, Czarzynska-Jaczym said.
He stressed that this would require more extensive changes to the Public Roads Act than the legislation proposed by MPs KO and Tshesia Droga. In his opinion, only the removal of regulations that prevent the creation of paid parking zones in cities with less than 100,000 inhabitants. residents, in many places it does not solve the parking problem.
According to this document, inner-city areas can be established only in the areas of intensive development of the functional center of the city, which form the real center of the city or district, which is not possible for many small and medium-sized enterprises. -tourist cities or near special tourist spots.
Spas want paid parking areas also on weekends
– The bill of the parliamentary law submitted to the Seimas does not include the provisions required by spa towns, which refers to the possibility of charging parking fees in the spa area also on holidays, – noted the president of the Association of Spa Municipalities Jan Golba. the end of November.
– Tourists gather in sanatoriums on weekends and holidays and occupy the stations almost all day. Because the drivers don't pay the parking fee and if they don't pay, they keep the car. It even happens that drivers park their cars in green areas, in places where flowers bloom, and no one notices, and the police cannot control everything, he said.
He added that the Association of Resort Municipalities has already proposed changes to the provisions of the project.
– We have already asked the deputies who prepared this project and the parliamentary delegation of resorts to introduce changes before the vote. This is a big concern for us and we do not understand the idea that parking is not charged on non-working days. At this time, traffic is the busiest in resort communes and tourist places, Golba said in conclusion.
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