Parking backlash fuels downtown debate

 An aerial view of downtown Paris shows freshly completed paving as the stretch from the Nith River bridge to Mechanic Street reopened to traffic this week, ending a closure of more than four months. With the streetscaping now taking shape, residents are getting their first real look at the finished design — sparking plenty of debate over the switch to parallel parking from angle parking, a topic that resurfaced at a recent council meeting. 

Casandra Turnbull

Managing Editor

As the transformation of downtown Paris begins to take shape, Councillor John Bell says community backlash over the new streetscape and parking layout is growing, prompting him to push for changes before construction wraps up.

Bell raised the issue at the Oct. 28 council meeting during discussion of a staff report on parking and traffic modifications across the County. The matter had been deferred from the Administration and Operations Committee, but Bell said he felt compelled to revisit it given the volume of negative feedback circulating online.

“Parking and traffic flows through downtown are hot button issues,” he said, noting two photos he posted last month on Facebook, one looking north and one looking south on Grand River Street, have reached 140,000 views. “Of those views,” he added, “the comments turn negative.”

Bell said council made the right decision in redesigning the streetscape as part of the infrastructure renewal project.

“We as a council made the absolutely right decision. If we’re going to tear up the road to renew and upgrade utilities, then we should change the streetscape to change accessibility ad beautify downtown,” he said. “We are almost through it, we are coming to the end of it. I want it to be a success and not remembered as something as a failure.”

A key concern among residents is the shift from angled to parallel parking on Grand River Street North. Bell said social media has even coined a new term in response.

“Social media has introduced us to a new word. Parallel phobia. A fear to parallel parking,” he said. “The view I put on Facebook the instantaneous reaction was the road is too small. And people can’t parallel park so it will bring traffic to a hold.”

According to the report submitted by Rick Knap, the County’s roads technologist, the design includes approximately 20 standard parking spaces with two-hour limits, three 15-minute loading zones, and seven accessible parking spaces. Standard spots measure 2.5 metres by 6.75 metres, while accessible spaces are 3 metres by 6.75 metres.

Bell proposed reducing the total number of spaces to allow for longer parking spots  between 8 and 9 metres to ease concerns among drivers of larger vehicles and those intimidated by parallel parking.

“I believe sincerely if we don’t do something like that, we will be continuously hounded by our community and that the positives of what we’ve done and what we are doing on Grand River Street North will be lost in a fog of social media,” he said.

However, David Mellor, the County’s general manager of operations, warned the change could eliminate up to seven downtown spaces. He noted the average vehicle length in Canada is 4.4 metres, and the current design allows sufficient room to maneuver.

Mellor added there are 2.5-metre rollover curbs on both sides of the driving lane, “so there is a lot more room for maneuverability.”

Ward 3 Councillor Steve Howes said most vehicles will fit comfortably within the proposed stall size.

“Believe me I’ve been watching the social media commentary, Councillor Bell is not wrong,” he said. “But equally we are going to face a lot of criticism if traffic is backed up if someone is trying reverse into a parking space and it’s backed up but also face criticism if we lose 7 spaces downtown. We are going to face criticism either way.”

Adam Crozier, the County’s newly appointed general manager of strategic initiatives, said delays are not new.

“I think what people maybe forget is that there were significant delays when people were trying to back out of angled parking spots, and there were significant delays when you had a three-quarters ton-truck blocking your view,” he said. “I don’t know how people did it before backup cameras, because you could barely see.”

Crozier said once the project is complete and the public begins using the parking, staff will be able to monitor its effectiveness and recommend changes if needed.

Ward 1 Councillors John MacAlpine and Jennifer Kyle, and Ward 4 Councillors David Miller and Robert Chambers said they would not support Bell’s amendment to reduce parking in favour of longer spaces.

The amendment failed on a recorded vote. The remainder of the report, which included several parking and traffic changes across the County, passed 9-1. Grand River Street North is set to fully reopen before Jingle Bell Night on November 21st. A portion of the road between the Nith River Bridge to Mechanic Street opened to traffic this week in time for the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph.