A Guelph councillor has brought up the possibility of turning an unused portion of the Guelph Lawn Bowling Club into a temporary parking lot.
Ward 1 councillor Bob Bell raised the possibility at a committee meeting Tuesday during a discussion on where cars are going to park while Wilson Street and the new Wilson Parkade are under construction later this year.
The street will be ripped up starting in September, resulting in the loss of 19 on-street spots, and the year-long construction of the parkade is scheduled to begin in December.
"The lawn bowling club has one court not being used. It could probably hold 40 or more cars," Bell commented. "It's just an idea."
The lawn bowling club, on Gordon Street just south of downtown, is currenly only utilizing one of its two greens for lawn bowling. The other is overgrown with weeds at the moment.
"I've been pulling my hair out thinking where we can find spaces," said Bell, who was chairing a meeting of the city's Infrastructure, Enterprise and Development Committee.
The comments came after city staff had given the committee an update on the two construction projects.
Bell added that the city needs to address a plan for "that area in general" and it might be possible for the city to "scoop up a little bit of green space that's not being used."
City staff told the committee that there will be 20 new spaces added in the Baker Street Parking Lot shortly as the redundant toll booths are taken out.
They said there will be pressure on the parking inventory during construction, but it was necessary for the greater good.
"It's going to hurt: short term pain," said Allister McIlvaine, the city's Manager of Transportation services.
"Of course there will be some short-term pain, but if you don't do the garage ... you'll never get to the other lofty stuff," said Deputy CAO Scott Stewart.
Businessman Doug Minett, representing the Downtown Advisory Committee, said downtown business was pleased with the aggressive timetable of the projects, but said there had been a lack of communication from staff and that no consideration had been given to where all the construction workers were going to park.
Other brief discussions on the plans included the potential for washrooms that service the late-night crowd being put in the facility (staff is still gathering information on that), the possibility of parking on the roof of the new parkade (will be costed out), the possible need for more electric car spaces (Mayor Cam Guthrie said we have to look at increased need down the road) and ensuring the structure fits into the streetscape from all angles.
The report now heads to full council for discussion and approval.
