After months of consideration, Vancouver city staff have recommended that the city only invest in visitor parking and focus on creating partnerships with private developers to build parking for downtown employees.

The conclusion follows a study by Dixon Associates, which found that despite anecdotal evidence, the city has plenty of parking. But looking forward, city officials said, they wanted a new policy based on city goals to guide further investment. The resulting recommendation makes visitor parking the city’s the top priority.

“Your policy then would be to strategically invest in private developments to ensure visitor access,” said consultant Rick Williams during a December council workshop. “So when you sit down at the table with a developer, it’s how can we work with you to minimize the cost of parking, but at the same time ensure it’s not all residential nor is it all employee parking.”

That wouldn’t mean the city couldn’t or shouldn’t own parking, according to Williams. But he said the city should initiate discussions with developers with the idea of providing access for visitors.

“We’d rather have an operating agreement that could be maintained,” Williams said.

Driving the city’s preference is the cost of building new parking.

Each new parking stall costs about $45,000, meaning the city needs to generate between $300 and $400 a month to cover its costs. At the moment, city-owned parking generates $100 per month.