SACKVILLE, N.B. – As another local business gets ready to set up a sidewalk café for the summer season, a couple of town councillors continue to voice concerns over the loss of more parking spaces downtown.
“How many more parking spaces are we going to lose?” asked Councillor Bruce Phinney during council’s discussion meeting earlier this month. “We have lost so many now there’s nowhere to park.”
Phinney said he is not opposed to sidewalk cafés in general; in fact, he thinks they’re a great idea. But he is against the idea of blocking any more parking spaces with the temporary walkways that need to go up around the outdoor café area.
“I’m certainly in favour of all the business we can get . . . but then I stop and think about all the people who have come to me and complained about all the parking spaces that have been lost in our downtown core.”
– Councillor Joyce O’Neil
He said he has been hearing from a number of seniors and residents with limited mobility about the lack of on-street parking in the downtown and doesn’t want to continue the trend.
The discussion stemmed from a request received this month from Goya’s Pizza to operate a sidewalk café in front of their business at 96 Main Street.
Councillor Joyce O’Neil shared Phinney’s concern and also voted to turn down the application.
“I’m certainly in favour of all the business we can get . . . but then I stop and think about all the people who have come to me and complained about all the parking spaces that have been lost in our downtown core,” she said.
In particular, the two latest parking spaces that will be lost are prime spots that provide easy access to either drugstore or the bank, said O’Neil.
Goya’s request was approved, however, and councillor Megan Mitton said she feels the economic benefits of having sidewalk cafés downtown outweigh the loss of two parking spaces. Mitton points out there is plenty of parking available throughout the downtown and encourages those who can park a bit further away to do so, thus freeing up the spaces in front of the businesses for those with limited mobility.
Lori Bickford, planning manager with the local planning commission office, said the application was circulated to all town staff and RCMP for their review and no concerns were raised over the the proposal. As with other sidewalk café applications, the operators must comply with all requirements of the town’s sidewalk café operating procedures.
