CENTRE WELLINGTON ‒ Parking structures are occupying prime real estate in some councillors' heads as they work with staff to brainstorm future municipal parking solutions.
This follows a new report on the growing parking demands in Centre Wellington's downtowns, identifying Elora as critically in need of additional parking whereas Fergus simply requires more.
While several needs are listed in the report, the study highlights creating more long-term parking for employees and residents, implementing paid parking to manage demand and serve as a revenue source, as well as looking for opportunities to promote alternative transportation and related infrastructure.
"Certainly in Elora, I can almost never find somewhere to park if I want to go out to a restaurant. The problem is not as intense in Fergus, but with our growing downtown, I'm sure will be very soon," said Coun. Barb Evoy, during the meeting. "As we look to the future, we can't really afford to wait much longer to figure out where (current and future residents are) going to park."
But Evoy said she was personally hoping to see parking garages and was disappointed to see a "glaring absence" of that option in the proposal.
According to staff, a parking structure is included in the "long list" of potential strategies and is "definitely on the table" as part of the overall strategy as staff "definitely see a need" for parking structures right now in Elora and maybe in Fergus.
Coun. Jennifer Adams said she believes offering parking structures at monthly rates could be "very well utilized" in Fergus as well, especially for employees in town and Coun. Bronwynne Wilton suggested staff look at creating a parkade on St. Andrew Street.
"Especially in Fergus, (I think we should) look at shifting where people are parking," said Wilton. "We have a great amenity in the Grand River in Fergus that could be quite lovely if we actually got cars out of the space."
A final report, along with financial implications and staff recommendations, will return to council in January 2024.
The full report is available here.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
