Downtown parking will be a major focus for the city this week as it hosts three workshops focused on the topic beginning Wednesday.

"To conclude our consultation effort on our Downtown Parking Management Plan, the city will be hosting workshops for the public, the business community, as well as for employers and employees,” Mayor Bev Buckway said in a statement this morning.

"I encourage everyone who has an interest in downtown parking to participate.”

Within the workshops will be a presentation by Todd Litman, a parking and transport specialist, who founded the Victoria Transport Policy Institute – a research firm focused on solutions to transport problems.

Litman has a particular interest in sustainable transportation, the city noted.

"This is a very important opportunity for people to provide input on the future direction of parking in the downtown,” said city planner Ben Campbell. "The input from these workshops will help guide the project team's recommendations in the draft plan.”

The workshops, all taking place at The Old Firehall downtown, will begin Wednesday, with the first one aimed at the general public from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

That will be followed by two workshops Thursday, the first aimed at the business community from 8 a.m. until 9:30 p.m., with the final workshop for employers and employees from 3 p.m. until 4:30 p.m.

The city awarded the $94,905 contract for the parking study in March to Boulevard Transportation Group, a Victoria-based company, which is working with local firm Inukshuk Planning and Development on the parking plan.

It is the first overall parking study the city has done on the downtown since 1997, and officials expect it to be finalized in October or November.

Information about the workshops is available at :

www.whitehorse.ca/parkingplan.

While it works on the overall plan, city council is also looking at providing more parking space by selling off its parking lot at Third Avenue and Steele Street.

Council members are scheduled to vote tonight on whether to move forward on a bylaw that would see the city put the sale of the land out to tender for a minimum of $1.4 million.

The city opted to consider the sale after local businessman Tippy Mah and some other investors approached the city about selling the site. They want to develop a multi-level parkade with commercial space on the ground level.

Earlier this year, the city began the process to allow that to happen by rezoning the property to an entirely new classification of Commercial Parking Garage.

The new designation comes with design requirements and other conditions, including having a minimum of 100 parking spaces.

Under city policy, the land can't be sold directly to a buyer, but must go through a tender process with the property being sold to the highest bidder.