Grey Highlands council has approved a cash in lieu of parking deal for a new bar being proposed in downtown Markdale.
At its meeting on March 19, council gave the thumbs up to a staff report that recommended the municipality accept cash payment for parking seeing as the property in question does not have enough space to provide the required parking spaces.
The property is located at 24 Main Street (next to the Bank of Montreal) and the owner plans to renovate the former retail space into a cocktail bar.
Staff reported that the property currently is able to provide just one parking space. The former retail use of the property required four parking spaces and the new bar use would require a total of eight spaces.
Grey Highlands has a policy in place that allows a property owner to pay the municipality cash when the property is unable to accommodate the parking requirements in the municipality’s zoning bylaw. The policy applies to downtown and hamlet areas. The fee is $625 per space. The money collected is placed in a reserve fund and used for future parking needs.
Planning staff said the property owner would be required to pay cash in lieu for an additional four spaces, as the previous use of the property accounted for four of the eight spaces now required for the bar use.
Council approved the deal with no comment, however, Mayor Paul McQueen said the situation was an illustration of why Grey Highlands needed to review the cash-in-lieu-of parking policy.
“$625 is very, very, very low in the sense of creating a parking space today,” said McQueen, who has raised the issue in the past. At previous meetings, McQueen has noted that with the price of land these days, $625 is a pittance in terms of creating new parking. “We need to go back and review that.”
Coun. Paul Allen said the mayor’s concerns were valid.
“I agree 100 per cent,” he said.
The municipality will look at the cash-in-lieu-of-parking policies and requirements during the process to update its comprehensive zoning bylaw.