Parking continues to be a huge problem around Kelowna General Hospital, whether you're there to visit a friend or loved one or there for out-patient treatment. We've heard stories about people having to drive around and around before finding a parking spot in one of the hospital lots, sometime for 30 or 40 minutes.
Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran is acutely aware of the problem, but struggles with the solutions.
He says, "If we're going to build a parkade for the facility on land owned by Interior Health, should Kelowna taxpayers be footing the entire bill for parking spots used by people from all over the region? That's the question."
Basran adds that the city has been tweeking on-street parking to try to alleviate at least some of the parking woes.
He goes on to say, "How can we find a balance between utllizing the streets for hospital parking while making sure it's not untenable for residents in the area. I think we've done a pretty good job of maintaining balance."
Basran says KGH needs another parkade. He believes Interior Health has a plan to construct one in the future, but immediately, there are no easy answers.