As the reconstruction of Huntsville’s Main Street draws closer in order to replace aging infrastructure, where downtown patrons will park has been a burning question for many.
On a typical summer day, downtown parking can be at a premium and things can only get worse with traffic disruptions and more parking spaces unavailable due to the streetscape project scheduled to begin next spring.
At a time when many businesses have already seen a decline in revenue due to COVID-19 restrictions, ensuring that there is ample parking close by for downtown patrons is an issue the municipality has been trying to tackle.
At its November meeting, Huntsville Council instructed staff to go ahead and enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Huntsville Legion “to utilize and promote the Legion Parking Lot as public parking from May 1st to October 30th in 2021 and 2022.”
Likewise, Councillor Bob Stone who sits on the board of the Downtown Huntsville Business Improvement Association (BIA), brought forward a recommendation in November that resulted in council instructing staff to negotiate the terms for a memorandum of understanding with Mike Peters, owner of the plaza at 6 John Street, to rent his parking lot in 2021 for public parking at a rate not to exceed $17,000.
Although the sum was set by Peters, when staff contacted him he seemed to have a change of heart. “He rescinded his offer and said he no longer wanted to lease the parking lot to the Town,” Kirstin Maxwell, director of planning, told council at their December meeting.
“At this time, I would like to withdraw the motion,” responded Stone. “And I sincerely hope that the owner of the property will reconsider and we can get back into discussions with him.”
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Christine Riviere-Andersen has the most current and accurate vision for a small shining town.
Instead of having customers park at the legion how about the owners and staff of the stores park there or at the summit centre and walk to work leaving the spots for customers. The lot behind rbc is full by 8:30 every morning long before customers would be in town.
I am sorry to hear of the suggestion to turn the old Empire Hotel lot into a parking area…
Is that the best we can come up with in our town? Do we want Huntsville to be a tourist destination with some charm with parks and natural zones or do we want it to look like any non-descript North American urban centre where cars occupy the best spots in downtown areas?
Let’s be creative here and think outside the box.
Underground parking lots? Out of sight with parks, trees, walking paths above and maybe small boutiques with a residential storey above them.
That to me would be esthetically far more pleasant.
I remain hopeful.
Curious what is happening with the available lease space on corner of Main at the lights, across from gas station. It has been open land and available forever. Why not purchase this for parking?
Hey Huntsville!
Except for a few who can walk to downtown remember this….
We come in cars!
We shop where we can park!
We have no options on this.
So if you want business from out of town the shops on the main street and town need to figure this out.
Walmart, Canada Tire, Metro, and others have figured this out.
Banks and many others have figured out how to operate essentially without a store front at all.
Nothing I or any planners can say will change this fact significantly.
Although personally I love to just wander along small town main streets looking in the shops, this is mostly an entertainment pastime for me these days. Serious shopping (where the money goes) is done either on line or at places that offer the special big ticket items that are necessary to living in the country. Places like Car dealers, industrial supply and building supply stores.
It is not the world I experienced as a child, but it is the world today where Costco, Amazon and Wallymart seem to run the show.
Are we worrying maybe too much, or not enough or in the wrong way altogether with respect to the small traditional downtown shops? I wonder? In most USA tourist destinations, for example, you can tell how close you are to a “real tourist mecca” by the number of fudge and ice cream shops you find, yet none of these kind of shops really provide anything that is necessary in any way. Do we want out downtown’s in Canada to become like this? Again I wonder as that seems to be the way we are heading.
When I tried to park in that lot, to go to Boston Pizza . Which was a pick up. There was a person telling people this is private property. Boston Pizza lot was full.
Not to park unless going to one of business locate on lot. Then advise ticketing or towing could happen.
Perhaps it would be useful for more people to start using Huntsville Transit. The town has an existing plan where another bus would be added to the route; service would then be hourly, rather than the current bihourly schedule. It may not be a perfect, but it’s temporary, and it might beat spending 1/2 hour looking for a parking spot.
To Kathy Kay
Great comments….. I hope the Council follows your thoughts….. Wonderful for the Town of Huntsville
Typical….
Why worry about it? Shoppers have always parked there.
If the lot fills during the construction is he going to have
all the vehicles towed and impounded. I don’t think so!
Is he playing games $$$$?
Sorry to hear that didn’t work out. I hope the town can come to some sort of a reciprocal agreement with Mr. Peters. That area is certainly advantageous for the purpose of parking so close to the shops etc. Considering how derelict that whole plaza is, and what an eyesore the area has been for quite some time, with the town’s cooperation and input, and I’m sure adjacent businesses would agree, perhaps Mr. Peters would come out quite a bit ahead if the whole area was improved.