Blocked in

Dispute over four parking spots highlights need for more capacity in Wellington.

Wellington parking issues bog down council

Adeal to restrict parking in Wellington, that a week earlier appeared settled, unravelled in spectacular fashion at a council meeting at Shire Hall last Tuesday night. Not the whole deal— council did manage to salvage parts of a bylaw that would restrict parking on certain parts of streets in Bloomfield and Wellington. But new rules governing parking on a short stretch of Wharf Street in Wellington proved harder to nail down. In the end, it managed to twist council proceedings into a ball of confusion.

In mid-January, it seemed, after several months of negotiation between the neighbours and businesses on Wharf Street (south of Main Street) and on Lakeview Drive, an agreement had been reached to deny parking between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., seven days a week.

Lakeview Drive is a narrow street, without curbs or sidewalks. The key issue here is access by emergency vehicles. All agree that restricting parking on Lakeview is a necessary safety measure. At stake on Wharf Street, between Main Street and Lakeview, are about four parking spots in front of the Drake Devonshire, opposite the Foodland grocery store’s loading dock.

At a council committee meeting in January, Bill Simpson, vice-president of development for the Drake Devonshire Hotel, seemed generally happy with the proposed bylaw, but urged council to consider easing restrictions on Wharf Street in front of his property, particularly on Saturdays and Sundays.

But Adele Pierson, of Pierson’s Foodland, countered that those fours spaces along Wharf had to be kept open to enable delivery trucks to manoeuvre into the store’s loading dock. Further, she noted the store received deliveries on the weekend, and could not predict with certainty when they would arrive. She noted, too, the Drake Devonshire needed those spots to receive deliveries.

Works chief Robert McAuley advised the committee it would be problematic to expand restrictions later. He urged them to pass the bylaw as proposed. The committee agreed and passed the bylaw—pending ratification at council.

But when the matter came to council last week, Simpson was taking a harder line. He pleaded with council members to ease restrictions. He proposed a compromise: No parking on Wharf between Main and Lakeview from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and no restriction on weekends.

“There is insufficient parking in the core,” noted Simpson. “This bylaw is too restrictive.”

By now, other Wellington businesses were becoming concerned that restrictions to parking on Lakeview and Wharf would intensify the parking problems in Wellington by pushing the displaced vehicles onto Main Street.

“We feel as though we were left out of the loop,” said Evan Nash, of Wellington Home Hardware. “This decision affects every business in the core.”

Nash also had the signatures of 28 other Wellington businesses and individuals seeking a broader discussion about parking in the village core. He asked council to defer a decision until such time as the village could meet, with County officials, for a fuller discussion.

In its 2015 budget, the municipality set aside $700,000 to acquire parking space in Picton and Wellington. Simpson, Nash and many of the signatories sought to remind council of the pressing need for more parking capacity in the village.

Athol councillor Jamie Forrester suggested this was not the County’s problem—rather Wellington businesses should band together to buy their own parking lot.

Adele Pierson said she fully supported her fellow Wellington businesses in their wish for more parking in Wellington, but reminded council the issue before them simply dealt with the four parking spots on Wharf Street across from her loading dock.

“That’s a different issue,” said Pierson. “It used to be a no-parking zone. It’s been that way for years. We both agreed it should be a loading zone.”

North Marysburgh councillor David Harrison tried to broker a compromise—maintaining the restrictions on parking in these four spots between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, but easing the restrictions on Saturday and Sunday to 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Harrison’s motion passed in a recorded vote. So did a motion to defer a decision until a public meeting was held. This so badly entangled council and staff that the County clerk was compelled to write to participants the next day to clarify to them precisely what they had done.

A meeting will be held tonight at the Wellington Legion hall to discuss the general issues of parking in the village. Council members have been invited, as well as Community Development Officer Neil Carbone.

The narrower matter of what to do with the four parking spots on Wharf Street will come before council at a future date.