Changes to parking are coming to the streets around Kelowna General Hospital early in the new year.
City council approved a parking plan for the area Monday, that includes pay parking for varying lengths of time on streets fronting the hospital.
On the south side of Royal Avenue, meters will allow full-time pay parking longer than two hours when required. On the north side of the street, between Long and Pandosy Streets, one-hour only parking would replace the current resident permit only parking.
On the Abbott Street and Rose Avenue hospital frontages, pay parking will be introduced between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Overnight resident permit parking only will be allowed on the residential blocks closest to KGH — Glenwood, Christleton, Speer, Abbott, Rose and Atwood — and full-time resident permit only parking will be allowed on Long Street, between Royal and Cadder avenues.
The plan will expand two-hour parking on Richter between Glenwood and Elliott Avenues.
Additional parking bylaw patrols will be stepped up in the area in the evenings and overnight.
The parking plan is the third in a series the city has introduced as part of its city-wide parking management plan.
Parking in the KGH area has been a headache for area residents for years and the city feels the new plan is a good mix to address their concerns while still making street parking available for those needing to use the hospital and create turnover of spaces.