Parking study parked as Penetanguishene staff go for second look

When it comes to parking in Penetanguishene, politicians are picky about pickup trucks.

More specifically, the issues of size, space, blockage of sight lines at the top of Main Street, and sticking out into traffic as a hazard were brought up as concerns that council members had during two reports surrounding a town parking study and its recommendations. 

Parking availability was just one concern held by town council from previous years when exploring the town dock renovation project which anticipated a redesign with potential cost of $8 million over the next 10 to 15 years.

Whereas consultants had recommended greater green space areas for the redesign, the community and council countered that parking availability was a greater need; the discussion precipitated an overall parking study for further information.

An October 2024 parking strategy study was presented at the recent committee of the whole meeting through LEA Consulting Ltd. senior vice-president Christopher Sidlar. The study looked to the downtown area and town dock, and provided recommendations on optimizations, enforcement, and future planning.

Two weekends were spent surveying the boat launch, in May and in July of 2024, which observed how full the estimated 146 passenger vehicle spaces and 55 vehicle with boat-trailer spaces occupied. The strategy study suggested that only 109 vehicle spaces (37 space decrease) and 53 trailer spaces (2 space decrease) were needed due to non-peak demand, with further suggestion that any overflow could park further up in the downtown.

Deputy Mayor Dan La Rose challenged the suggestion, calling himself a large user of the boat launch area and having witnessed peak capacity.

“How would that affect our parking?,” asked La Rose. “(If parked on Main Street), then we have the businesses saying ‘now it’s more of a problem because I’ve got all these people parked for four hours’. And then your (solution) to that is… to hire more staff to ticket more cars; and then you want us to get into a shuttle bus system for a tour boat.”

Sidlar replied that the focus of passenger vehicle overflow could go to underutilized parking lots. 

“It is a spreading of the demand during that peak hour, but not in a way of having trucks and trailers being spread across the on-street parking,” he said. “Rather than (passenger vehicles) being parked specifically at the town dock, they may be 400 or 500 metres away from the town dock at that point.”

Coun. Suzanne Marchand praised the study and its recommendations, and pointed out that the town’s annual Winterama festival had closed off access to the town dock entirely in previous years with visitors still able to find parking and attend.

Angled parking on Main Street were recommended for restrictions if vehicles exceeded 5.4 metres (or roughly 17 ¾ feet) in length; further recommendations would have the initial three spaces at the top near Robert Street removed in the long term.

Later in the meeting, the study recommendations were brought for consideration and bylaw changes to be ratified for a future council meeting. However, discussion became lengthy as council members each held views around pickup truck length restrictions in on-street parking spots.

Council recommendations included hosting a public information session, separating the town dock component, and more. As a solution to the confusion, La Rose suggested that the study be deferred back to the planning and community development services section, to return in an upcoming committee of the whole meeting; it was approved.

The parking strategy study and recommendations can be located on the agenda page of the Town of Penetanguishene website.

Meetings of Penetanguishene council are held on the second Wednesday of each month, and can be watched live on Rogers TV cable 53 when available, or on the Rogers TV website.

Archives of council meetings are located on the Town of Penetanguishene YouTube channel.