While councillors agree that parking is an issue in Huntsville’s downtown core, they are divided on the approach to take to help alleviate the problem.
At the July 26 General Committee meeting, Deputy Mayor Karin Terziano suggested that Town staff be directed to explore the possibility of using a vacant lot between High Street and Princess Street for public parking. The Town had an agreement with the previous owner of the property to use it for parking starting in July 2008 in exchange for tax relief on the property equivalent to $6,200 per year. The new owner has indicated interest in selling the property to the Town, and would consider a proposal for another arrangement, said a staff report.
“Would we value additional parking to the tune of $6,000 per year and having to provide some of the upkeep and plowing and so on? It’s worth exploring,” said Terziano.
Councillor Stone, on the other hand, said he’d prefer that the Town purchase the property. “Given its proximity to the downtown and the desperate need for parking, I would say buy it now…so we have control over what happens there and the potential to have more parking now and do more later.”
The property comprises four lots, two commercial lots facing High Street assessed at $223,000 each and two residential lots facing Princess Street assessed at $48,500 for a total assessed value of $543,000.
The lot in question is in the centre of the image numbered 10 through 13. Town Hall and the Algonquin Theatre are at upper left.
Mayor Scott Aitchison, meanwhile, disagreed with both Councillor Stone and Deputy Mayor Terziano, saying that more creative solutions are needed.
“There’s no question that we need more parking in our downtown core,” said Aitchison. “But if you keep paving over parcels of property that are just adjacent to the main street, that’s actually worse for your downtown core. There’s zero urban design elements considered when you do that kind of thing. And that’s how we’ve added more parking to our core. We got rid of the planing mill and put a parking lot in middle of the park. We bought houses off High Street and Minerva and tore them down and paved it over and made it parking. I’m convinced that the best way to improve the parking situation downtown is to keep the pressure up, and to keep working with the private sector to do exactly what we are talking about doing with (Ed) Wiebe behind us here – 50 new parking spaces that doesn’t cost the taxpayer a nickel.”
I think, through our Community Improvement Plan review, we can look at putting more tools in place to encourage private sector development to add more parking underground so that we can, as is so often said, stop paving over paradise, and create more parking in a creative way. It’s more expensive, but at the end of the day it will be better for us.
Mayor Scott Aitchison
Deputy Mayor Terziano countered that those solutions won’t solve parking issues today. “If Mr. Wiebe’s project goes ahead and we participate in it and garner some new parking spots, that’s not happening tomorrow and it’s not happening in January. If there’s a possibility of doing a lease for this property and address some of our parking now…maybe it could be a good way to address the short-term.”
Councillor Armour suggested that the Town could look at leasing the property only during the four busiest months of the year.
Just before councillors voted on the resolution – to direct staff to pursue negotiations for use of the property and first right of refusal for purchase of the land – Mayor Aitchison reiterated his opposition to the idea.
“I think there’s lots of other options to look at before we start leasing new land,” said Aitchison. “We’ve talked in cursory terms of making the street behind us one way and adding more angled parking, we’ve never really explored that. There’s lots of other options that we can do on our own land and in partnership. I think this is premature.”
Councillors remained divided with the resolution being carried 5-4 in an unrecorded vote. It will go before council at its next meeting for ratification.
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Increase the cost of tax rate on vacant land downtown to have it developed. Perhaps owners would then be clamoring for financial relief. Increase the rate for every year left empty .
that building on high and brunel i dont understand most of the downtown has stores that no one but tourists go in mainly so why more retail space ? And there is a few empty stores also that should be addressed not building more retail space that might not get filled up.
Perhaps part of the parking problem in the downtown is that maybe some merchants and employees are taking the prime parking spots and staying there all day, making it really difficult for shoppers to find short term parking. Is the 2 hour limit being enforced?