UAE: Parkonic to revise on-street parking rules in Discovery Gardens for some tenants

Parkonic on Wednesday announced it was revising on-street parking allocation for some residents at the Zen Cluster in Discovery Gardens, following initial confusion about eligibility for free parking permits.

In a statement to Khaleej Times, Parkonic has now revealed that a limited number of allocated on-street parking spaces will be provided per building, made available through coordination with building management to support residents during the transition. Access to these on-street spaces is managed via building-level registration to ensure fair allocation and prevent misuse, the operator stated.

As reported by Khaleej Times earlier this week, initial circulars issued by the operator indicated that studio apartment tenants in this cluster were ineligible for complimentary parking allocations offered to similar tenants in other clusters. However, Parkonic has now clarified that Zen Cluster residents were "not excluded" from complimentary parking.

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Clarification issued

Responding to questions, the operator said, "As with the wider Discovery Gardens implementation, each residential unit is entitled to one complimentary parking tenancy. For Zen Cluster, this entitlement initially applied to basement parking only, in line with the building’s original parking allocation structure.

"However, because the basement parking capacity in these buildings does not fully match the total number of residential units, Parkonic coordinated with the relevant building management and stakeholders to enable a limited allocation of on-street parking spaces per building, ensuring residents could still access their complimentary parking entitlement."

Parkonic said the latest move is an alignment measure to address capacity constraints, not a revision of parking entitlement, and "remains consistent with the one-unit, one-complimentary-parking framework applied across Discovery Garden".

Zen Cluster (also referred to as Pink Buildings or Buildings 1–20) follows a different parking arrangement from the rest of Discovery Gardens due to building ownership and structural design. These buildings are not owned by Dubai Holding and have privately managed basement parking.

Relieved residents

As Parkonic announced the new rules, residents living in the studio apartments in Zen Cluster heaved a sigh of relief. Sarthak, a Building 3 tenant, said, "We are slightly relieved with the above development. However, our building management has not confirmed anything yet and has informed us that they are still awaiting the official guidelines from Parkonic."

Grace, who has been living in Discovery Gardens since 2011, said, "This would be a massive relief if Parkonic and the building management actually implement. Paying Dh945 per month would not have been financially viable."

Although she has not yet received the email from Parkonic, Grace hopes that the building management will continue to support her by registering her tenancy. "The management hasn't given any positive response to tenants yet; it remains to be seen how this will be implemented."

New parking arrangements

Residents have reported receiving emails clarifying the new parking arrangement. For residents of Zen Cluster (Pink Buildings; Buildings 1–20), the on-street allocations per building are as follows:

• Zen Buildings 1–6: 80 on-street parking spaces per building

• Zen Building 7 (hotel apartments): Not included

• Zen Buildings 8–10: 80 on-street parking spaces per building

• Zen Buildings 11–12: Not included

• Zen Buildings 13–20: 68 on-street parking spaces per building

These allocations are building-specific, limited in number, and are intended to complement basement parking during the transition phase.

Parking access remains subject to availability and the approved building allocation framework.

What about residents who already registered or paid?

The email also included an update from Parkonic to Zen Cluster residents who already registered as tenants via PIN and currently see a digital parking card in the app. Existing tenant parking cards issued via PIN registration will be temporarily disabled, effective January 24, 2026.

The operator said this is required to ensure parking access is "correctly aligned with building-specific parking allocations, basement and allocated on-street capacity, and vehicles approved under each building’s management". It clarified, however, that the temporary disablement does "not indicate a rejection, cancellation, or penalty".

One-time refund review

It further stated that residents who purchased a paid parking membership during the transition period, and were required to park outside their allocated building area, may be eligible for a one-time refund review, subject to verification and coordination with building management. The membership fee for paid parking at Discovery Gardens is Dh945 per month, while a quarterly membership costs Dh2,625.

However, refund requests will only be accepted until January 30, 2026, and are a one-time transition measure. Additionally, all refund cases will be subject to verification and approval. Tenants were also informed that refund considerations would not apply after the system stabilises.

As next steps, residents have been asked to coordinate directly with their building management or owner and register their vehicle under the building management portal access. Once the vehicle is successfully registered, a new digital parking card will automatically appear in the app and parking access can be continued without interruption.