Collingwood's Purchase Of
Former Theatre Building
Will Also Address
Downtown Parking Issue
Mayor Carrier Said Additional Parking Will Be Necessary Because Of Growth East Of Hurontario Street
Carrier Feels An Elevated Parking Garage
Is Not Necessary For Downtown Collingwood
The Town of Collingwood's purchase of the former Cinema 4 building on the Pretty River Parkway will help the town improve the shortage of downtown parking for both day-to-day activities and for special events. Collingwood Mayor Chris Carrier, speaking on the Chats program with John Nichols on 95.1 The Peak, said the ongoing development in the area east of Hurontario Street, including the Shipyards development, is creating a need for more municipal parking.
"As we grow and we need to help people park, offsite parking will help alleviate parking issued downtown" Carrier said, adding that people are asking for free parking, or what he called "almost free" parking as a solution to the growing demand for parking within the town's downtown business district. Carrier said the opportunity to develop additional parking opportunities was one of the key components considered when the town was considering buying the former theatre property. "We know that we need more parking in the downtown core, and because of what's going on with the library, the Tremont, the museum/Station, the development that's occurring across the street with Fram (the Shipyards), and the events that we have in the summertime with Wakestock for example, we know that we do need parking for people to be able to park in the downtown core, so we're delighted to be able to have more parking spaces" Carrier said.
The Downtown Collingwood Parking Study 2009 is available for viewing. The study looks at the issues of employee parking, municipal parking expansion, free on street parking, public transit service and the development potential of town parking lots.
One issue raised in the report points to a municipal parking garage as a possible solution to create additional downtown parking. "The Town could create future development potential by building a municipal parking garage on one of its own public parking lots. The new garage would accommodate the parking demand associated with one of the other existing municipal parking lots, thereby allowing the lot to be sold for new development" the report stated
Mayor Carrier is not in favour of the construction of a downtown parking garage. "I hope we never see it quite frankly. I hope that with all of the initiatives that we're doing, in creating linkages from the trails to the downtown core so that people can walk or bike, with the investments in public transit, what I'm hoping is that the de-emphasis in cars will pay off meaning that we won't have to fix our roads as often, we won't have to build elevated parking and we'll have a cleaner and better environment" Carrier said.