Newmarket council defended its decision to cancel a downtown modular parking structure as fiscally prudent.
Council voted Sept. 30 to proceed with a request for proposals to pave the existing gravel parking lot instead. The town initially planned to build a modular structure atop that lot, positioned where the downtown tennis facility used to be. But when that structure came back with a more than $7 million cost, council decided against it, proceeding with a $850,000 paving instead.
When complete, the new parking lot is expected to have 150 spots versus the more than 200 the modular structure could offer. Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said this is a positive story.
“This is an exceptional example of staff monitoring the situation closely, of using a data-driven approach, about fiscal responsibility and prudence, coming together to analyze a situation over a period of time and to pivot to what is clearly, in my opinion, a better decision and a better outcome,” Taylor said.
The municipality has sought to address downtown parking struggles for years and add more spots. To do that, it demolished the existing tennis facility to make way for a temporary gravel solution this year. Council and staff had then decided to proceed with a modular structure, with construction due to start later this year.
In a January closed session, council heard the modular structure would have a projected cost of $6.215 million, of which $2 million was approved in the budget. In September, council then heard that the projected cost would exceed that by $1 million if it went ahead. Council balked and decided to go a different direction.
Part of the reasoning for that was the gravel parking lot not seeing maximum capacity usage. Through new monitoring efforts, staff found that the granular parking lot was rarely at high capacity throughout the week.
Councillor Bob Kwapis said it did not make sense to go with a modular structure for such a high cost, particularly given it only amounted to about 50 more spots.
“It’d be just financially irresponsible of me,” Kwapis said. “That is not responsible to the taxpayer.”
Deputy Mayor Tom Vegh said he has heard from residents about the underground and multi-level parking structures that exist throughout Toronto. But he said a key difference, for now, is that Newmarket has maintained free parking in the downtown.
“The way they pay for those structures is through parking fees,” Vegh said. “This is a fairly unique situation.”
Councillor Christina Bisanz also said it is a prudent decision based on data, though added there should be more wayfinding to ensure people are aware the gravel parking is available to them.
Melanie Duckett-Wilson of Climate Action Newmarket-Aurora wrote to council to suggest using permeable paving, a method meant to help absorb rainwater and reduce stormwater runoff and reduce the need for salt use in the winter.
“Permeable paving is cost-effective and considerably more environmentally friendly than regular asphalt or concrete tarmac,” Duckett-Wilson said.
Taylor said it is something staff could examine.
Although the modular structure is not happening for now, council is directing staff to look for other opportunities to make up for the 50 additional parking spots promised in other parts of the downtown. Staff are due to report back on that within six months.
“We’ve got a good direction forward,” Taylor said. “We know our downtown is going to continue to thrive, continue to amaze people, so we got to make sure we’re there to support it.”
