The Town of the Blue Mountains (TBM) council and the Thornbury Business Improvement Area (BIA) board are hoping to expand pedestrian real estate in Thornbury and Clarksburg’s downtown cores.
“Although I think people are fairly safe when crossing each other in the street, the key is to create a feeling of safety and I would certainly support closing the parking on Bruce street for a month at least, and then re-visiting that at the July meeting,” said George Matamoros during a recently held Thornbury BIA board meeting.
The BIA recently received a letter of concern from local business owner, Casey Thomson, who operates Thornbury’s Cheese Gallery, in regards to what she has been seeing outside of her store.
“As a result of the volume of people, the sidewalks do not offer enough space for safe social distancing. The natural result is that people step on to the street to walk around others,” Thomson wrote. “Currently, there are cars parked on the street, so the next option is for people to walk on the far sides of the parked cars beside the traffic of cars driving on Bruce Street. I have witnessed many, many people doing this. Additionally, they are choosing to cross the street in the middle of the road to avoid line ups or groups of people.”
Thomson urged the BIA to address the issue before someone is injured or people stop visiting the downtown area for free of these gathering crowds.
The BIA board determined it will send a letter to TBM council next week in regards to creating a wider pedestrian walkway through the downtown business corridor by suspending street-level parking on Bruce Street.
Ryan Gibbons, director of community services confirms that town staff, under the direction of council, have applied to Grey County for a permit to close the parking areas on both Bruce and Marsh Street.
“We have made an application to Grey County in regards to this. Right now, all signs are positive,” Gibbons said. “We are trying to find out how and where we can obtain barriers to make that physical separation between the road and the extension of the sidewalk.”
Once the TBM receives approval from Grey County, parking spaces along Bruce and Marsh Street will be closed off to allow for greater social distancing measures.
“The more things that you put in place that are visible, the more it reminds visitors that they should be abiding by these rules,” said TBM mayor Alar Soever. “It is easy for people to forget. The more cues we can give people the better.”
Matamoros added that Thornbury's downtown currently has approximately 18 parking spaces, and that although some may fear removing the parking spaces may have a negative impact on the local businesses, the BIA board believes this move will improve business as it is creating a, "sense of safety for visitors".
"The reason we would do this is because, ultimately, we want our visitors to feel safe and comfortable," he said. "We are doing this to improve business."
