GuelphToday received the following letter in response to a recent article that detailed the city's initial approval of cash in lieu of parking downtown.
Dear editor:
Reading the recent news article about the City of Guelph council’s plans to have developers pay to reduce the number of parking spaces they should provide is quite a questionable conversation.
There is a better way to achieve city benefit.
A council member believes it would free up some capacity for residential building, and someone also expressed that less parking would encourage use of public transit and active transportation, which in hindsight could be true, “If transit and active transportation are safe, convenient and fast," he said. The matter of 'if' then comes into play, meaning public transit must be safer, more convenient, and faster than it already is.
As a student who primarily lives in the Guelph community and uses public transit daily, I hear numerous students complain about public transit efficiency, which is something that has to be looked into. If the public transit is not efficient, students and others would rely more on private vehicles regardless. And with reference back to the Planning Act by staff at that meeting, it was confirmed that the money generated cannot be put toward transit enhancements.
We continue to hear the real estate industry remind us that saving space while providing housing comes with the middle ground of building more vertically and not horizontally. So, while the city continues to figure out ways to better public transportation, why not implement the provision of underground parking by developers instead of cutting down parking spaces for a fee. This provides the number of on-site parking spaces developers are required to provide, while freeing up some capacity for residential building.
Naomi Amayaevbo,
Guelph
