By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Though the matter will have to come before council at months’ end, Cobourg’s Community Services, Protection and Economic Development standing committee last week decided to recommend that council authorize a free one-hour grace period for downtown parking, including all paid street and municipally owned lots, until a new bylaw is presented to council for consideration.
Complaints about parking in downtown Cobourg during the so-called high season (Victoria Day weekend through Thanksgiving weekend) are nothing new, but the two committee members present at that meeting got an earful about off-season parking from downtown business owner Caren Cooper.
“I really, really want to make it clear I am not here to talk about the high season,” Cooper stressed.
“That is way more complicated, and I leave it to you.”
She led her presentation with news of the recent loss of four downtown businesses, and she attributes a lot of the blame on expensive downtown parking.
“We have a lot of incredible businesses downtown, and they employ a lot of people,” she said.
“We have to find a way to make it accessible for cars to get downtown and stay downtown, not just make it easy big-box-store parking.”
This is especially important on weekends and holidays, she added, noting the efforts these business are making to increase downtown foot traffic – often in vain.
Her complaints concerned the high parking rates. She presented a list of municipalities of various sizes, from Oshawa down, including nearby Port Hope. Without exception, they were substantially cheaper than Cobourg’s street rate of $2.25 an hour with a minimum of three hours. And they all offered free weekend and holiday parking, while Cobourg parking rates apply 365 days a year from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
There are also safety and accessibility issues, Cooper added, with insufficient lighting in some areas.
While the lots are fine for longer-term shoppers, easy and affordable street parking encourages shoppers to walk down the street, browse, become enticed by the window displays.
Municipal Clerk Brent Larmer recalled a time when all downtown parking was free. As it has evolved since then, Larmer said, the town has consulted with its citizens and tried to be innovative.
Committee Chair Aaron Burchat noted that parking regulations and rates are useful in the high season, given Cobourg’s unique feature of a downtown just steps from a beautiful beach.
Burchat also recalled extensive debate on the parking issue last spring, and a full report on year-round parking due back to council some time over the next few months.
Councillor Nicole Beatty (attending the meeting as non-member of the committee) noted that, last year, the Downtown Business Improvement Area had been granted the authority by council to offer a one-hour grace period for on-street parking in December through 2025. Burchat made the motion to have the grace period for November and December – but committee member (and downtown business owner) Adam Bureau said that the real challenge for downtown businesses is not the busy Christmas season but the lifeless post-Christmas season.
Calling it “the absolute slowest period for 90% of the downtown,” Bureau said this period can often make or break a business for the rest of the year.
Uncertain of when the report will come back to council, Burchat amended his motion to recommend that council institute the one-hour free grace period to run until such time as the new bylaw comes before council.
As for the “astronomically high” fines for those who do get tickets, Cooper said, “I’ll come back another day and honour you with my presence.”
