Tighter parking is sign of the times
Published Tuesday July 14th, 2009
SAINT JOHN - With development chugging along and employment steady, the city is facing the tightest parking situation in two decades.
Richard Smith would know. The general manager has worked at the Saint John Parking Commission for 28 years.
"Parking is very tight," Smith said, shortly after the city's planning advisory committee granted his organization permission to create two more surface parking lots in the city centre. "We have a waiting list."
The two new lots on Union Street on either side of Peel Street should be ready soon but will be temporary locations only.
Over the last several months the city demolished several buildings on the properties to make way for a new police headquarters, part of the Peel Plaza development that will include a courthouse complex, a rock garden and large parking garage.
One side of Peel is the former location of the historic Broderick Building and Pearson's Auto Garage. It is still undergoing environmental tests that will determine if the city has to do an underground cleanup. The other side, which once housed 'Lil Darlings Day Care, is closer to being ready. Eventually both sides of Peel will have about 50 temporary parking spaces.
Smith said once common council decides what to do with the land - the long-term plans show it being the new police station - the surface lots will be closed in favour of a new parking garage only a block away, off of Carleton Street.
The new, $17-million garage will have 560 parking spaces, with the majority rented to justice and police officials. Between 200 and 250 spaces will be available to the general public, Smith said.
"What's going to happen is the parking situation is going to get tighter, then it's going to loosen up a bit. When the new garage comes on line, quite a bit of the parking will be looked after. As other projects start developing, I think there's still going to be a requirement for more parking."
A consultant's report done for the commission a while back stated that a number of parking garages would be required in the uptown area over the next five to 10 years.
The city has tried to reduce parking pressure by introducing Comex, the express bus routes that extend to the outlying towns of Hampton, Quispamsis, Rothesay and Grand Bay-Westfield. The park-and-ride concept encourages suburbanites to park their cars and hop on city transit.
Parking in Saint John has traditionally been cheap compared to bigger cities, thanks to the low property values and the abundance of surface parking lots. The Saint John Parking Commission runs about 30 lots in the uptown area, all within a short walk of each other.
However, development pressures are already swallowing up these lots. A large parking lot that borders St. Andrews, Carmarthen and Queen streets will soon be developed into a low-income apartment building.
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