CENTRE WELLINGTON – Weekends of pedestrian-only streets in Downtown Elora may be a thing of the past as a township report recommends essentially doing away with the COVID-era concept except for limited special events.
The report by CAO Dan Wilson, being discussed at Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting, outlines the parking strategy proposed by staff for 2022 but addresses the street closures with a recommendation to only close for special events, none of which are listed in the report.
The previous two summers, Metcalfe and West Mill streets in Downtown Elora would become pedestrian-only on Saturday and Sunday originally intended to stimulate business and create extra pedestrian space due to COVID. It also meant a loss of on-street parking spaces on those streets.
However, Wilson said in the report anticipated parking demand in 2022 means maximizing the number of parking spaces available as the town is expected to lose 61 parking spaces from a public lot.
Wilson's report stated effective July 1 the parking lot on the northwest corner of Metcalfe Street and Carlton Place — called the 30 Carlton Place lot in the report — will no longer be available for public use. Pearle Hospitality owns the parking lot and has granted the township access to the lot for five years starting in 2017.
Due to this, Wilson therefore recommended in the report to limit street closures to special events only as keeping the streets open allows for 71 parking spaces.
This recommendation may go against the wishes of a majority from the Elora BIA.
The report showed results of a BIA survey of 66 Elora businesses on if they support regular weekend closures from July 1 to Sept. 5, for long weekends and special events only, or do not support road closures.
The results showed 52 per cent supported regular closures, 27 per cent supported closures for long weekends and special events, and 21 per cent did not support them.
Elora BIA chair Maclean Hann, owner of the Evelyn restaurant, confirmed members generally supported road closures in some form but it is ultimately a township decision. He said he believed there might have been a different recommendation if the township wasn’t losing the Carleton Place lot.
“By losing that lot and then also having road closure, there would be a serious gap, I guess, in availability,” Hann said.
Hann was hesitant to share his personal view on the road closure but a fellow restaurant owner and board member didn’t hold back.
“I’m very disappointed, more for the community and the tourists,” said Jeff Wilde, owner of the Porch Light on Metcalfe Street. “The amount of people that have come to the village over the last couple years felt it was almost needed because it was just so crowded. We’re all kind of shocked that they just decided not to do it.”
Wilde said he and staff noted how much visitors to the restaurant would gush about how much they enjoyed the European vibe given from a pedestrian only downtown area.
The only downside he said he saw to this was the loss of parking.
“But in a way, that’s kind of a positive too, as it just means less cars, less pollution, less noise, all those things,” Wilde said, adding he felt there weren’t many solutions being offered to the parking problem beyond this.
Not all business owners were feeling unhappy about this recommendation.
Sabine Maarse, BIA board member and owner of Elora Doggy Daycare on East Mill Street, said her business never benefited from the street closures like the more tourism-oriented businesses did.
“It funnelled all the traffic down East Mill which just made the street very busy, that just made it a little bit harder for clients,” Maarse said.
“We don’t have a really fast flow of traffic, I would say, in Elora on the weekends anyways, things really back-up. So when you close a main artery, it’s really not very ideal.”
The report floats the idea of a shuttle pilot which would offer free rides to allow people to park outside of the downtown cores.
The proposed stops on this shuttle are: the Casino, Downtown Elora, Elora’s Victoria Park, Bissell Park, Wellington County Museum and Archives, and Downtown Fergus.
This shuttle, with a capacity of 24 passengers, is proposed to operate on weekends and holidays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Any recommendations would need to be passed by council at the committee-level on Tuesday and further ratified at a future council meeting.
Despite this, Wilde said this recommendation feels like a done deal based on emails going around the BIA.
“It seems to me that the decision has been made, I’d be even more shocked if they changed it,” Wilde said. “It looks like a done deal.”
