Concerns about traffic congestion and safety are prompting the municipality’s transportation advisory committee to recommend that council refers the suggestion of additional Snug Cove parking spaces to its planning department.
“We need to totally review parking in the Cove,” committee chair Adam Holbrook said after Tuesday night’s meeting. “There are two questions: how much parking do we need and how much will it cost?”
The municipality is seeking input into the idea of filling in a ditch between the library and the entrance to Crippen Park to create 12 new parking spaces. It will discuss the public’s feedback at its September 14 meeting.
Michael Chapman says part of the problem with congestion in the Cove is that the municipality does not do enough to enforce its current parking bylaws.
He did a seven-day survey of all 54 parking spots in the Cove and presented it to BIMTAC on Tuesday night.
At 7:30 in the morning and 7:30 at night, he chalked tires in the 12-hour parking spaces to see who was complying with the rules.
At no time, he said, was there ever no space available. However, there were 97 violations of vehicles overstaying their welcome. One truck was there for the entire week.
If council charged $2 for every 12-hour parking, Chapman said the municipality could bring in an additional $50,000 a year.
He also studied the Official Community Plan, provincial laws and past studies.
He found many references that go against the proposed new parking spaces, he says. The OCP, for instance, says pedestrians and cyclists should be kept separate from vehicular traffic, something that is impossible to do in the area of the proposed new parking spaces.
When the ferry loads and unloads, the “Cardena corridor” is especially busy with foot passengers getting on and off and drivers coming down to meet passengers and then using the base of Cardena Road to turn around. The public buses used to do three-point turns to turn around but Chapman says they are now backing into the library parking area instead.
Chapman’s written council to suggest that it join the two existing library parking lots into an L shape and move two storage sheds. This would allow for 22 more spots, he said, adding that it would not interfere with the proposed annex. There could also be an exit lane for buses only.
Holbrook said that BIMTAC had previously recommended more spots at the library but had been turned down.
Chapman would also like a sidewalk along the eastern side of Cardena Road to the lagoon.
