The representatives of the parking sector in Barcelona promised to be very happy when, at the beginning of the year, they appeared hand in hand with the municipal government to announce the agreement that would allow garages to offer complementary services to the parking of a lifetime. The new use plan regulates the incorporation of online shopping collection cabinets, logistics warehouses for delivery companies and ATMs of those that are increasingly difficult to find in some neighborhoods of the city.
The problem is, as so many other times, in the fine print. The technical documentation that specifies the good words of the plan presented eight months ago includes a series of issues that complicate things to make it a reality in many of the city's private garages. For example, the minimum ceiling height to incorporate new activities is established to be more than 2.20 meters, a requirement that will exclude many car parks.
In addition to specific aspects such as this, those responsible for the Barcelona garages union warn that the plan is not specific enough about whether the new activities will be incorporated into the current vehicle guard and custody license under which these businesses are governed or will be necessary to process a new one, with all that that would mean. "With the current license, it should be possible to carry out the new activities, otherwise it can generate a defenselessness of those affected by the norm", warns Xavier Ferrer, president of the union that represents some 600 car parks, both large and small, of management private and public, with 120,000 places as a whole.
The special urban plan for new activities in the Barcelona car parks was initially approved by the government commission in January. Between April and May it was on public display and in that period the City Council received six allegations, according to municipal sources. To those presented by the union are added those of other private companies at a private level and those of the public company Barcelona Serveis Municipals (BSM), the same one that manages the municipal car parks in the Catalan capital, which prefers not to disclose aspects of those who have made allegations.
The municipal technicians responsible for the matter are waiting to receive some sectoral reports that they have commissioned in order to assess some of the issues raised by the union. Although there is a predisposition to collect the proposals of the sector, the legal experts are the ones who will end up having the last word. When the stumbling block is resolved, the allegations will be answered and the document will be taken to the municipal plenary for final approval.
Waiting for that moment, the president of the garages union extends his hand to the new government of Jaume Collboni and invites the City Council to create a work group "so that there is close collaboration and jointly ensure that the application of the plan is feasible and beneficial to all”. In other words, users benefit from new services and all garage owners can take advantage of new sources of income that make it possible to compensate for the reduction in mobility in private vehicles that has been gradually taking place in recent years.
