ELORA – Parking and transit in Centre Wellington are issues the township is hoping to address in the upcoming year, Centre Wellington’s mayor and CAO stressed at the annual Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce Mayor’s Breakfast.
Sub-par road conditions and unfavourable weather didn’t stop the business community from packing the house at the GrandWay in Elora on Wednesday morning to hear about township matters from mayor Shawn Watters and CAO Dan Wilson.
Watters and Wilson touched on the usual topics of the township’s rapid population and housing growth, the recent budget, upcoming construction projects and incoming studies including an emphasis on addressing parking which the mayor said is clearly becoming a big issue in the community but especially Elora.
“Anyone who's been to Elora in the last year or so has seen that trying to find a parking space is interesting,” Watters said. “This is also partly again from our growth, we know that parking is going to continue to be an issue. It’s not something that’s going to go away.”
Council had pushed forward with a parking strategy which Wilson said revealed what was already known.
“Elora needs parking as soon as possible, Fergus is reaching that point,” Wilson said.
A survey sent out looked at many options but were predominantly focused on paid parking, Wilson said, recognizing the need to generate revenue to accommodate more parking whether that be buying land or creating a parking garage.
A majority of respondents, 66 per cent, were in favour of paid parking for visitors only and free parking for residents. He added that of those respondents, 57 per cent of Elora residents felt a parking structure was a good idea while a little over half of Fergus residents did not.
“We are investigating and going to be reporting to council on paid parking this year, we need to engage the BIA and business community before we do that,” Wilson said.
Following a question about transit options from an attendee, Watters said it is time to take a look at it based on the current population noting he understands other communities such as Orangeville started adding transit when they were at the size Centre Wellington is now.
“We’ve requested funding from the provincial government to do a transit feasibility study,” Wilson said.
In the meantime, they confirmed the shuttle program will continue to run on Saturdays and Sundays in the summer and are looking at enhancing the service.
Wilson said the township has been directed by council to look for funding opportunities for these enhancements which could include having these buses on Fridays, longer hours, or the most expensive option of adding a second shuttle.
A report on this is expected soon, he added.