Hoogeveen will be examining the parking pressure in the municipality in the coming months. Various business associations and political parties have previously stated that they consider parking in the center to be a structural problem. The municipality hopes that the results will provide more insight into the problems.
This is evident from a response that the council gave to a number of questions from the VVD regarding parking. The party has noticed that visitors and residents of Hoogeveen often have difficulty finding parking spaces. According to the faction, this would cause overcrowded areas, for example on Stoekeplein during busy times, while Bilderdijkplein is not used.
For example, the VVD suggested looking at the use of digital signs. By placing them in different places, visitors coming to the city on the ring road would be able to see where it is best to park. For example, on a square where there are sufficient parking spaces at that time.
The council has announced that technically such a thing is only possible at the De Kaap parking garage. “There are no digital counting options available in other parking lots or squares.” But the municipal council wants to investigate the possibility. They will also investigate whether there is a short-term solution to improve the findability of De Kaap and Bilderdijkplein.
The same applies to signage that should make it clear where people can park or where space is available. This can be done, for example, with special signs or stickers. The VVD wonders whether this is being looked into. “We are aware of the additional wish and we want to map out the various options for this,” the council said.
The faction also wants to know whether new parking meters can contribute to solving parking problems. Hoogeveen wants to invest 1.2 million euros next year to replace the current parking meters. According to the municipal council, they are too old and new ones are needed.
In the coming months, research should reveal what the distribution problems are in terms of parking spaces. “If it turns out that the distribution problem can be (partially) solved with new technologies in parking meters, we will present this option to you,” the council said.
The VVD still wonders whether the municipality has plans to provide as many parking spaces as possible with barriers. In order to possibly solve the parking problem. The municipal council has no plans for this at the moment. “Parking behind a barrier means that 21 percent of parking revenues must be paid to the government as VAT.”