The residents-only parking lot at Sunset Point will stay for now.
Council, during a strategic initiatives meeting last night, approved a plan presented by parks, recreation, and culture department staff to keep the parking lot and bump up bylaw enforcement and staff presence at Sunset Point and Millennium Park this summer.
Public washrooms at Sunset Point will also be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week now. Previously they were closed at 6 p.m.
“We think this is a good news story,” said CAO Sonya Skinner. “Other municipalities around us have closed facilities … Those were ways we didn’t want to go because we didn’t think it was a win-win for residents and visitors.”
The plan approved by council at last night’s meeting is nearly the same as the test pilot staff ran on Sunday after witnessing overcrowding in the parking lots and residential streets surrounding both Sunset Point and Millennium Park.
“We’ve had an explosion of visitors,” said Skinner.
Though the location of the resident-only lot hasn’t been confirmed, it was the lot at the east end of the park by the water treatment plant on Sunday. Skinner said it’s the largest lot with approximately 75 to 100 spots. There will be a total of four staff assigned to the parking lot over the weekend, and they will be paid hourly for their work.
Those allowed to park there will be anyone who lives in Collingwood, owns property here, or owns a local business. The lot is also open for anyone with a disability, regardless of residence.
The town will also be upping its bylaw enforcement contingent by hiring one full-time bylaw enforcement supervisor ($80,000/year), a position that will stay until at least the end of 2021.
The town will hire parks summer students that were not hired this year due to COVID shutdowns to help with the additional staffing needs of supervising the resident-only lot and cleaning the washrooms.
Skinner said there are 232 parking spots available at Sunset Point park, and about 110 chalk circles drawn on the grass for physical distancing. She said staff calculated the capacity of those parking spots, based on about four people per car, should be manageable inside the park.
There will also be people walking or bicycling into the park.
“We can’t really manage the people entering Sunset Park without what I would call unmanageable costs,” said Skinner.
The town will continue to use temporary barricades and pylons to block street parking on both sides of Niagara, Huron, Raglan and Russell Streets, and will monitor other residential streets for parking issues.
The town will add bicycle racks and more garbage cans to the park, and will provide warning via social media and through signs on nearby main roads indicating when the park is full.
At Millennium Park, staff are working to regrade the trail on the east side and staff will be marking the road and restricting parking on areas where Heritage Drive is narrowed. Staff also suggested adding speed bumps to Heritage Drive.
Councillor Yvonne Hamlin noted Collingwood is one of the few municipalities in the are not charging for waterfront parking, and suggested that might be drawing more people to Collingwood.
Skinner said charging for parking is fair, but it will take a while to implement.
“I didn’t want to pre-empt a report coming to the development and operations committee on Monday,” said Skinner. “We’ll be providing an update on the parking app and potential for charging for parking.”
In her report, she indicated it could be in place by the fall pending council approval.
“The general consensus was that people would probably pay any price,” said Skinner. “We didn’t feel it was as much of a user control item as it was a way to support the services residents need.”
Councillor Deb Doherty praised the proposal brought forward by staff.
“It’s consistent with the way Collingwood has been with tourists,” she said. “We are welcoming and our parks are accessible. What we are doing now is accommodating an exceptional situation and ensuring both our residents and our visitors are equally satisfied with the solution.”
Councillor Mariane McLeod called the plan a good middle ground.
CAO Skinner reminded council this was still a test pilot or a learning phase, and she didn’t expect the decision made last night to be the final decision on the matter.
