Midland residents will get a one-year break on paid parking in the downtown core, as Mayor Bill Gordon sought to reset its controversial program for revenue-generating parking meters last week.
As of a 6-2 recorded vote by council, an amendment by Gordon was crafted by himself and municipal staff to include as much input at the recent council meeting as possible; Coun. Jim Downer remained the sole councillor to declare a conflict of interest and not vote.
Proposed by Gordon, the five-point amendment focused on removing paid on-street parking in the rectangular downtown area from Yonge Street to Bayshore Drive, and Midland Avenue to First Street, effective Jan. 1 of next year.
Addressed in the amendment were: having staff prepare a report to detail parking lot costs and on-street cost-recovery options for the 2024 tax year; prompting council to look to cost recovery in upcoming budget deliberations; and establishing an ad-hoc committee on the matter to return prior to next year’s budget.
“I did some soul searching, I spoke to merchants,” said Gordon of the three-week deferral from the previous meeting. “They want these machines gone because they know we can’t fix them – not that they’re broken; they’re in use all over Canada. I use these things every week in Barrie, exactly the same machine and they seem to work for me there. I don’t know what the problem is up here.
“Let’s stop spending good money after bad tax money,” Gordon continued. “One per cent on the tax rate; $250,000 we’ve lost; which means we’ve only made $250,000. So we’re actually (at) $500,000 – if that’s really what it costs us to run these parking lots, that’s a two per cent tax hit before we even talk about the cost of the town running anything.
“We need to stop the bleeding, and there’s nothing we can do to this parking system in my mind short of drowning it and just pulling it that’s ever going to bring things back to a good place with our downtown merchants and with residents and visitors alike coming into our community,” said Gordon.
While Coun. Sheldon East gushed praise on Gordon’s amendment from his perspective as a business owner operating on King Street, others held more scrutiny to the proposal.
Catherine MacDonald questioned another aspect of the amendment which related to reimplementing a new paid parking system for the downtown areas outside the core rectangle at the waterfront, along Bayshore Drive, and at the Pete Pettersen Park boat launch, and was informed that if all pay stations were removed then those areas too would need a new system of their own.
Coun. Jamie-Lee Ball held reservations on the report and council considerations of Gordon’s amendment, while Bill Meridis stated unhappiness with the prospect as a whole.
“Right now, neither this option nor the other option seems good to me,” stated Meridis. “I want a solution, I want paid parking – most of the customers down in King Street say: ‘We’ll pay, we just can’t pay, because we can’t see the screens’, and so forth. And I’m one of them.”
Gordon reiterated his stance, adding: “We’ve had so many kicks at the can; like Midland Bay Landing, this thing needs a reset.”
He pointed out that through the efforts of an ad-hoc committee over the next year, the community would have their say.
The amendment went to a recorded vote to be passed 6-2 with Ball and Meridis as the sole opposition.
Like many businesses with a storefront on King Street, Georgian Bay Books is also located with a free parking lot in the rear.
“We were following the decision very, very closely because it affects us in sales and accessibility to our store,” co-owner Sandy Dunsford told MidlandToday. “I’m excited that there’s free parking (which will) boost accessibility to the downtown. It’s a great decision for such a tourism-driven town.”
While the parking and considerations report is available in the council agenda on the town of Midland website, Gordon’s passed amendment can be readily viewed through archives on the town’s YouTube channel.
Council meetings are held every third Wednesday, and can be viewed on Rogers TV cable channel 53, or through the livestream on the Rogers TV website. Archives of council meetings are available through Rogers TV and on the Town of Midland’s YouTube channel.
