Parking problems

New courthouse and district social services administration board buildings will leave the south downtown core with a deficit of 500 parking.

"We had a surplus of around 600 parking spaces prior to when the development started," said parking authority manager James Coady. "Initially we won’t see the parking demand from that facility that they’re predicting for say over 10 to 20 years, but that 500 really includes what the long-term future deficit will be."

Entra Consultants will present a study on the parking issue, as well as the future of transit in the city, to council Monday night and will inform councillors of their recommendations on both issues.

To deal with the parking issue, recommendations would include adding a level to the Victoriaville parkade, building a new parking structure and look at re-tooling on-street parking.

"One of the aspects they looked at as well was looking at private property owners to see if we could enter into agreements with them to provide parking," Coady said.

Even with those recommendations, Coady said they probably won’t be able to provide parking for every person employed in the downtown area, adding that some people might have to consider carpooling, taking transit or riding a bike to get to work.

"I guess our main goal will be to try to ensure that there’s ample customer parking in support of the businesses in the core business area," said Coady. "Then of course to try our best to deal with staff parking issues."

The biggest impact will start being felt this June. Up until then, there should be enough short and long-term parking, Coady added.

The transit portion of the report deals with options for replacing the Brodie Street terminal, which needs to be vacated by April. The recommendation to council will be to proceed with the route rationalization study, which will be a complete review of the transit’s operation from a route, fare and operational perspective all based on ridership requirements, said transit manager Brad Loroff.

"It’s basically going to be used to help establish some long-term goals and objectives for transit," Loroff said. "What we determined was there were no good locations to maintain a south core terminal, so based on that we looked at a centralized model."

The consultant’s report indicates there is merit in a centralized transit model in the city and the route rationalization study will gather information needed to take the steps towards that, said Loroff.

Once the report is finished, a site for the centralized terminal will be selected. Out of the four recommended by the consultants, the top-ranking site was the transit headquarters on Fort William Road.

Out of the 14 possible sites for a temporary replacement for the Brodie Street terminal, there are six now being considered; a decision on that will be made shortly, Loroff said.