The city's operations committee is weighing in on changes that would add a handful of parking spots for both vehicles and bicycles to downtown Sudbury.
A report headed to the operations committee on Dec. 7 outlines the addition of 12 new on-street parking spaces on the east side of Elgin Street between Durham Street and Medina Lane. The report also recommends removing parking restrictions in two areas on the north side of Larch Street east of the intersection with Durham, creating an additional two more on-street parking spaces.
Staff is also proposing lifting additional parking restrictions on the east side of Minto Street, south of Larch Street, which will result in two additional on-street parking spaces directly in front of the Best Western Hotel.
A number of reports on downtown parking have been presented to council and the finance and administration committee outlining opportunities to address concerns related to projects such as Place des Arts, the Elgin Greenway and Junction East, which will result in the loss of municipal parking spaces in the downtown core.
The committee will also be looking at adding approximately 42 more bicycle parking spaces with the addition of bike corrals.
"To address existing community infrastructure deficiencies and increase the availability of public bike parking in Greater Sudbury, three seasonal bicycle parking corrals will be installed in the downtown area in 2021," said the report. "A bicycle corral is an on-street parking area that can typically hold 10- 14 bicycles (depending on model) in a convenient and easily-accessible location."
Staff has worked with the parking services section to identify suitable preliminary locations for the bike corrals and will continue to work with the Downtown Sudbury Business Improvement
Area to refine the following locations:
• Durham Street, west side, south of Cedar Street
• Elgin Street, north side, west of Grey Street
• Larch Street, north side, east of Lisgar Street
In addition to the parking spaces and bike corrals, the report also looks at a bus loading zone at Place des Arts.
"With plans to offer 850 cultural activities annually, Place des Arts will host tour groups and school classroom visitors to participate in programming throughout the year," said the report.
"The addition of a bus loading zone to the frontage of Place des Arts along Larch Street, will enable improved access to the facility for these visitors."
In order to provide a dedicated bus loading zone, parking along approximately 30 meters of frontage on Larch Street will be restricted at all times, with the exception of buses and taxis. This will result in the transition of approximately three existing on-street parking spaces to a bus loading zone.
All told, if the proposed changes are approved by the operations committee and ratified by council, the downtown will gain 10 on-street parking spots during the summer and 13 on-street parking spots during the winter.
Full report can be viewed here.
