Some members of Newmarket’s downtown BIA are questioning the town’s plans to scrap a modular parking structure.
The municipality balked at the more than $7 million estimated cost for the structure and decided instead to pave the gravel lot in the downtown core, at the former site of the tennis club. The town estimates that the 150 spaces this will offer should be sufficient to meet current demand.
But members of the BIA board criticized the move during an Oct. 2 meeting. Chair Tom Hempen said the town should be mindful of the future demands of the area.
“We’re gonna have a lot more pressure on parking, and I believe the infrastructure should be put in prior to needs … This is something we need to really monitor,” Hempen said, adding that the town could consider charging for parking in the future at a rate of about $1 per hour. “I believe that’s the responsible way of looking at this."
The town planned to start constructing the modular structure this year, expected to add more than 200 parking spots. Town council heard that this could cost more than $6 million in January, with an updated estimate of more than $7 million in September. In contrast, paving the existing gravel lot will cost about $850,000. The municipality has also tracked and found that the gravel lot is not typically reaching capacity.
However, board member Dominic Pede expressed concern about the future impact of the Postmark Hotel running more events. He also said the restaurant opening at Main Street and Water Street, Locale, could lead to increased demand by next summer.
“You starting adding all these additional patrons, which is great because you’re attracting people to Main Street, but there’s no place to park,” Pede said, adding that other new businesses could emerge as well. “Even 200 spots I don’t think are going to be sufficient to handle the parking.”
Newmarket Councillor Bob Kwapis fired back and said it is not up for debate, with council already decided on the matter.
“We are not going to make decisions on 'what if this is going to happen.' We are going to make decisions that, yes, there is a need or no, there is no need,” Kwapis said, adding that the Postmark Hotel had a wedding with more than 200 guests already and there was enough parking capacity. “We’re continuously monitoring electronically to understand. And for me, or anyone, to take taxpayers' money and spend $8 million dollars on a what-if, maybe, is irresponsible.”
The town has started a new data project to monitor parking trends downtown. Staff are also due to report back within six months on other places where parking could be added to make up an additional 50 spots.
The staff report on the matter did suggest that the paving decision does not preclude the town from building a structure there in the future.
“We cannot make such massive decisions with taxpayer’s money without having the data to support it,” Kwapis said. “I’m not saying this is a done deal. All I’m saying is that we will continue monitoring. Downtown parking is of the utmost importance for me.”
Board member Norm Pereira said he would be against paid parking in the downtown to try to fund the structure.
“It’s just going to discourage people from coming downtown,” he said. “If we could keep free parking… that will attract more people to the downtown core.”
Hempen said that the gravel lot has improved parking downtown significantly. But he said he can recall when Cachet restaurant first opened and the parking struggle it created, and Locale is proposing to open in the same location with a bigger space.
“It created frustration among businesses and institutions around the area,” Hempen said. “I can guarantee you once we see the (Postmark Hotel) ramp up to their events and their capacity and their potential, and Locale opening next summer, we’re going to be at a point where we’re going to be back in the same situation. We’re going to be talking about people calling and saying, ‘We don’t have enough parking.’
“But we’ll let the facts speak for themselves when that comes,” Hempen said. “I’m just hoping, again, that we have a constructive conversation.”
