By Pepper Parr
May 24th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Parking at the former Bateman High school site, commonly called the community hub until a name has been agreed upon was an issue as soon as people realized that the sports field that consisted of a track with a playing field in the middle was going to be used to park cars.
That idea didn’t go down very well – so much so that the city put any engagement on the outdoor amenities on pause: scheduled to resume following the investigation for accommodating additional parking.
Parking was barely adequate when the site was just a high school. With university students and participants using the facilities the staff view was that parking would be overwhelmed and came back with suggestions that some of the track and sports field space be used. That didn’t go over very well with those who delegated and it didn’t appear that a majority of the Council members liked the idea either.
Council is being asked to:
“Direct the Executive Director of Environment, Infrastructure & Community Services, to work with the Director of Transportation, and the Executive Director of Community Planning Regulation and Mobility to report back to council by Q4 2023 with costs and timelines related to alternatives to accommodate additional parking for the Project inclusive of Phases 1 and 2 that minimizes impact to the existing greenspace, including but not limited to:
1. Amending the city-wide zoning bylaw related to parking or granting council Public Authority to amend the requirements where circumstances warrant.
2. Construct structured parking on the existing built area of the site.
3. Providing layby parking on New Street in front of Bateman.
4. Exploring shared and leased parking options with nearby sites.
5. Providing time limited on-street parking signed for the community centre uses.
6. Provide additional parking requirements utilizing permeable materials.
Options Considered
This project represents a significant investment by the City to retain this site in public ownership for a variety of community uses and to address the current and future recreation needs of our community.
As such, it is important that this investment be accompanied by a thorough and complete communication and engagement plan. In developing the plan, staff considered working through existing and established engagement efforts to maximize the potential reach; examples of this include the various master plans and reviews as well as community events such as Food for Feedback, connections with Council advisory groups and community and sport user groups, to name a few.
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An innovate and very welcome approach to involving community groups.
How does the public get to influence the decision on parking?
I didn’t see that in the plan.
Does the public even get consulted on the parking issue?
The “thorough and complete engagement plan,” if it was to be thorough and complete, would have happened before council went ahead and voted to spend millions on various phases, only some of which were publicly costed, with much of the discussion behind closed doors, etc etc etc. Back when General Brock closed and students moved to Elgin, there was thorough and complete engagement. Now there’s a bunch of empty words about engagement and promises for engagement later. Will that be for us to vote for the paint colour? Let’s hope it’s not another survey. We know how those go.