As of 1st May this year the local authorities have installed solar powered parking meters.....everywhere! The same 2 hour limits apply, but now the community parking is also a 2 hour limit, almost nowhere for all day parking and the cost... $3.00 per hour ... valid 1st May till 15th September. Locals can apply for a free pass but cottagers ( non-residents / not resident year round) must buy a $100 parking pass to avoid being nickelled and dimed to death every time you park in the village. $12.00 parking fee for a morning charter! There are also more restrictions on where you can actually park than there was last year...H/way #6t through the village is a no parking zone, even on the shoulder; along one side of Big tub Road too....Yes there is a meter at Lighthouse Point too so shore diving there and the tugs costs to park also... I wonder if the way to solve the crowded village problem is to annoy all visitors with parking fees so they won't come back. The meters at present don't accept any fees before 9:00 a.m. so divers off on early morning charters can't even pay to get a parking spot...only to find for non payment ticket when they get back to their cars. The information desk at the community parking lot has been inundated with complaints and now is handing out cards with the names addresses and emails for how to complain, or fight a ticket if you think you were wrongly charged.... No one seems happy.
