Full parking spaces are generally a good sign for local business – trouble is, many of the spots at the Fergus Marketplace are being used all day long by staff or employees of downtown businesses.
Combined with the reduced number of parking spaces north of the Grand River as a result of the Fergus library rebuild and a revamp of parking along the riverwalk area, it’s putting the squeeze on local businesses.
Eric Van Grootheest, who manages the Fergus Marketplace building on Queen Street, is working on a project to help.
“We were horribly, adversely affected by the library (construction) where we lost numerous parking spots (north of the river),” he said.
Many of those who had used those spots during the day, now park in the lot adjacent to the marketplace.
“We’ve come up with a solution,” Van Grootheest said.
“All we have to do is take out a curb and we could get another whole row of parking spots.”
He added that on the street in front of the Marketplace, the parallel parking could be replaced with angle parking and that one section could become a one-way street.
“It would add over 30 parking spots.” Van Grootheest said “sometimes by 10am, the parking lot (by the marketplace) is packed solid.”
He noted in recent weeks, the beer truck making deliveries to the Goofie Newfie was unable to make its delivery because there were so many vehicles in the lot.
“We gave the town a plan, created by a registered planner about seven months ago. We had an on-sight visit with Mayor Kelly Linton and councillor Steven VanLeeuwen five months ago.”
Van Grootheest said since then, the township had indicated that while it is a great idea, any attempts to move forward were met with delays for various reasons – including the desire to partner the work with proposed three-hour parking limits downtown.
“This is not rocket science and it would take so little time,” Van Grootheest said.
“We have businesses that people think are full – when there is just no parking. All the parking is being used by various employees and town staff. Month, after month, after month goes by … and it’s such a simple solution … one we could do next week.”
The township seems agreeable, but then seems to keep finding reasons why it cannot be done at this time, he said.
“There are businesses suffering because of the lack of parking. These businesses depend on people dropping in and having people dropping in depends on whether there is available parking space nearby,” said Van Grootheest.
“There is a direct correlation between the library (project) … and the businesses across the river suffering.”
Jackie Fraser of Frabert’s Fresh Foods understands the issue all too well.
Fraser said, “We are having problems with our customers finding parking close to the business. We are a grocery store, so people carrying bags of groceries need to park fairly close by.”
She added, “We would like to encourage folks who are parking for eight hours or more each day to park at the Fergus Curling Club where there is parking available, and perhaps not block up the prime parking spots for customers and downtown businesses.
“We’ve had customers tell us that after circling around once or twice and not finding a parking spot,” they head elsewhere. She hoped to see work get underway to address the issue in the Queen Street area.
“We have some ideas which would create a lot more parking spots,” she said.
“We are looking forward to working with the township on that. We’re also keen to have the three-hour parking limits in the downtown
“It would ensure people were parking to do their shopping or dining, as opposed to taking up the spot for the whole day.”
Fraser added, “It’s a great problem we have in that we have lots of people downtown and who want to work downtown. It is definitely a good thing, but I think we all need to work together on some solutions.”
Inquiries to Centre Wellington’s director of infrastructure Colin Baker elicited the following response by Kendra Martin of the township’s communications department: “The township has partnered with the Fergus BIA and the Marketplace business owners to ensure that we determine a solution that will work for everyone.”
She added, “Regrettably there is no easy answer to this issue … We want to take the time necessary to ensure the outcome is effective for the long-term parking strategy of this area, rather than a quick fix.
“In the meantime, we are looking at an interim cost-effective parking solution prior to the St. David St. bridge reconstruction.”
