The current Orillia OPP detachment is going to become the home of the city’s new transit hub and a three-storey parking structure.
City councillors gave staff the go-ahead Monday to move ahead with a detailed design of the bus terminal and three floors of indoor parking that will accommodate about 254 vehicles - 145 in “covered spaces” and 109 in rooftop spaces.
The decision is subject to ratification at next Monday’s council meeting.
The ambitious project has an estimated price tag of $20-30 million. The city has received a $7.3 million grant that will help offset the costs; that grant has to be spent within the next nine years.
The chosen option was not the choice recommended by staff, who suggested council only give the green light to the transit hub and two levels of parking that would accommodate 105 parking spaces. (There was also an option for parking for up to 379 vehicles.)
But most councillors feared the recommended option did not include enough parking to ease the expected strain of the potential loss of hundreds of parking spots in the coming years.
Councillors, however, agreed on the site for the transit hub. The site - that includes the current site of the OPP offices off Peter Street and the parking lot off Colborne Street - was selected via the city’s consultant, Stantec, after an exhaustive process that originally identified more than 30 potential sites.
The 150-page report from Stantec was presented at Monday’s council committee meeting.
The report explained that the list of potential sites was pared to seven and then four based on a wide range of criteria developed with the help of staff.
Throughout the process, the “best” spot identified was the current site of the former Central School (owned by a private developer) and the adjacent municipal parking lots. If this lot was chosen, the city would have to purchase the property and raze the old school.
The second-best option was the OPP site. Because the city owns that property and because the OPP is soon moving to its new detachment in West Ridge, council chose that site as the best option and asked Stantec to develop a plan for that property. That plan was presented Monday.
Coun. Ted Emond reflected the feelings of his peers when he said he was “quite comfortable” with the chosen location and design.
“I am comfortable with the high-level design of seven bays, plus a standby bay and I understand it would accommodate our municipal system today and, potentially, in the future and also accommodate linkages with Lynx regional transit and (an) inter-city bus system,” said Emond.
But like many of his council colleagues, he didn’t agree with staff’s recommendation to build the terminal and just 105 parking spots.
Staff laid out its reasoning in its report to council: “After reviewing the study, staff do not believe that incorporating all ‘at risk’ parking spaces into one structure is the most prudent and effective use of resources.”
Those ‘at-risk’ parking spots are spots that could be lost during the waterfront redevelopment and hundreds of spots in parking lots not owned by the city.
Emond wondered if it would be better to delay the decision until a detailed parking study - set to be considered during upcoming budget deliberations - is completed. However, staff said that could not be fast-tracked as “actual counts” were necessary during all four seasons, meaning the report would not come back to council for over a year.
Coun. Ralph Cipolla urged his council colleagues to support building the terminal and the three levels of parking.
“We only have one oppourtunity to build a parking garage to accommodate” the needs of the city, said Cipolla, who said a centralized parking structure would also help council meet its goal of developing a walkable city.
As to the option of potentially building a parking structure elsewhere in the downtown to make up for potential lost spaces, Cipolla said no thanks.
“The last thing I want to see is a parking garage in (the parking lot across from Brewery Bay) to take away from the heritage look of downtown,” said Cipolla.
Coun. Pat Hehn also supported the option to build the hub and three levels of parking.
“I’m struggling with the number of parking spots” in the recommendation from staff, said Hehn.
“I keep thinking about the intensification of downtown, how we’re encouraging apartments above stores and we know there’s not sufficient parking,” said Hehn. “A parking garage would solve that.”
She also suggested local merchants and others might consider leasing spots in the new parking garage due to the scarcity of parking in the downtown.
But Coun. Tim Lauer was not in favour of the idea. He agreed the Peter Street location was a good spot for the transit hub, but said he’s “not sure we have the right place for the parking garage.”
He said the hub and the parking structure don’t need to be “tied together at the hip.”
He wanted council’s support to send Stantec back to the drawing board to develop a “modest transit terminal design with ground-level parking.”
“The most important pressing need is the bus terminal. I’d like to see us look at that as a stand-alone project. The parking garage is a different beast,” he said, noting it would be “self financing” over time and could be built later - either at the site on Peter Street or elsewhere.
He did not get support for that idea.
Ultimately, all councillors, with the exception of Lauer, supported the decision to move to a detailed design study of the transit hub with a three-level parking structure. That detailed design study is expected to cost about $600,000. That money would have to approved during the upcoming budget deliberations.
About the Terminal
The proposed transit hub would feature seven bus bays to accommodate the city’s six bus routes; the seventh bay is for inter-city buses or other needs.
There would be 100-square metres devoted to an interior waiting area, public washrooms, 15-square metres of retail space, a banking machine, storage lockers, a ticket counter, drivers’ lounge/kitchenette and a mechanical and storage room.
There will be bike racks in the parking structure and 20% of all spaces will be able to accommodate electric vehicles.
Why a Parking structure?
According to the staff report, a total of 362 parking spaces are at risk as they are located on lands that are not owned by the municipality. The public parking spaces that are located on privately-owned lands are secured by lease agreements that are renewed annually at the landlord’s sole discretion.
In addition to this, the newly created Municipal Lots 8 and 12 will be decommissioned following the sale of the waterfront development lands. These two “temporary” lots provide 57 Pay and Display parking spaces.
