By John Francis,
Bruce Peninsula Press
Northern Bruce Peninsula Municipal Council held a Special Meeting on Monday, Oct 25 to discuss paid parking.
The meeting began with a PowerPoint presentation by Municipal Law Enforcement Officer Carol Hopkins.
The presentation addressed parking at a number of locations, but most of the 23 letters received — and most of Council’s attention — focused on the Village of Lion’s Head.
“This is the first full season for Paid Parking in Lion’s Head, and the Paid Parking program has received minimal complaints,” the report stated. “Recommendations: THAT the paid parking program in Lion’s Head remain status quo.”
The letters represented a wide variety of perspectives, some strongly supportive of the new status quo, others strongly opposed. But the village’s merchant community were all unhappy, as were most of their regular customers.
A few excerpts from the letters Council received:
“A better solution would be to implement free two-hour parking on Main Street.” Jill Martin
“Lion’s Head has for generations been the place permanent, seasonal, short-term visitors, friends and family would come to support the business owner who they knew by name. With the implementation of paid parking a number of them have stopped coming into town, specifically those from South Bruce and people visiting family and friends in North Bruce. They now go to the restaurants, hardwares, pharmacy, banks, grocery stores and small shops where parking is free.” Marydale Ashcroft
“…as a customer of specifically the shops in Lion’s Head, the paid parking did keep me away from enjoying the Lion’s Head shopping experience this year. I did not enjoy any meals from Rachel’s, nor did I buy any birthday gifts at the toy store. Let me be very clear, the thought of paying for parking and the possibility of a parking ticket kept me away from Lion’s Head.
On a side note as I’m from SBP, paid parking also kept me away from Sauble.” Melanie Hepburn
“…visitors would run into the grocery store, bank, and or the hardware store (on many occasions – all three), only to find a parking ticket on the window when they returned to their vehicles.” Barbara Dirckx
“Being a full service community means we service more than NBP residents. We had many regular customers from Pike Bay, Oliphant, Red Bay, Wiarton, Sauble, Neyaashiinigmiing, and Hope Bay. We have lost these customers.
On any given day in July and August our downtown streets looked bare.” Scott and Carla Hellyer, Scott’s PRO Hardware. The Hellyers reinforced this last statement with pictures of Main Street on summer afternoons with virtually no cars parked.
Mayor Milt McIver kicked off the discussion about Main Street by referencing those photos. “Looking at Scott and Carla’s pictures of Main Street — I have to agree that I saw that too” Lion’s Head was not as busy this year as it was in 2020 for sure, he continued.
Councillor Smokey Golden stated that the addition of more free 15-minute spaces is not the answer. Some discussion ensued, with all five Council members participating. A consensus gradually emerged around offering free two-hour parking on Main and Webster Streets. More consultation will take place and the issue will be back on the agenda at a future meeting, probably Nov 22.
A number of other parking issues were also discussed, including parking in Lion’s Head for boat trailers and oversize vehicles, managing traffic and parking on Big Tub Road in Tobermory and the agreement with Parks Canada concerning Little Cove Road. More consultation, deliberation and perhaps site visits, will be required before decisions will be made.
The Meeting Agenda is available online; it includes the MLEO’s PowerPoint and also the 23 letters MNBP received. Bear in mind that a number of the recommendations in the MLEO Report will probably not be adopted as written.
There is a public survey available at https://letstalknbp.ca where the public will be able to provide comments on the recommendations.
