St. Catharines Downtown Association

By Doug Herod posted in The St. Catharines Standard -

Major problem today. The column's about a parking lot.

Not very exciting, eh?

So, I thought about trying to jazz it up somehow.

You know, maybe suggest that the original design called for bike lanes, but the city backed off at the last minute.

Call a few cycling geeks and voila -- instant outrage.

Or perhaps I could say there was an official opening of the parking lot and Rick Dykstra was seen texting during the ceremony while a Liberal operative, wearing a false mustache and hiding behind a nearby planter, snapped pictures of the inattentive Conservative MP.

But who would believe that? Then, I remembered spotting something in the minutes of a recent St. Catharines city council gabfest held behind closed doors.

Coun. Andrew Gill introduced a motion, ultimately passed, that called on city staff to prepare a report on a potential property acquisition for downtown parking.

Hmm, this could work as a natural lead into my tale.

Gill explained that he was a mere pawn in the proceedings.

St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan had given a verbal report at the in camera meeting. Gill volunteered to move the motion so the mayor's wishes could be put into action. 

Gill said I should call McMullan for further edification.

Fair enough.

What say, Mr. Mayor?

Not much. At this point, it remains a confidential property item.

McMullan noted, however, that with the Carlisle Street garage no longer in the picture, downtown St. Catharines is facing a potential parking crunch, especially if any significant private development occurs in the next couple of years.

(You may recall that 100 or so spots were also removed from the downtown market two months ago when Niagara Region leased a private lot off William Street for police use.)

McMullan said the matter being discussed behind closed doors is seen as an interim solution to the parking problem. The more permanent fix will occur when Son of Carlisle Garage opens in a couple of years.

From what I can gather, it's got something to do with investigating a proposal that would allow an existing business access to more parking, thus freeing up other spots in the downtown.

OK, time for my parking lot story.

Drum roll, please.

The lot on which the old Queen Street Y once stood was finally paved last month.

I know what you're thinking. YOU MADE US WAIT FOR THIS?!?! Well ... yeah.

Seriously, where else could you turn for this sort of intensely local news?

The Globe? The CBC? The Queen Street Bugle?

I figured I owed this update to the legions of downtown sluggos and sluggettes who for years moseyed over to the Y for noon-hour workouts.

They'd be happy, I thought, to know the remaining image of their beloved sweat palace that was razed in the fall of 1994 need no longer be a dusty, potholed, gravel parking lot.

It can now be a clean, smooth, asphalt lot. With painted markings!

And to think the facelift was only 15 years in the making.

Well, that's not necessarily true.

For 14 years, it's quite possible upgrading the lot was never a consideration.

About a year ago, though, Hughson Business Space Corp. of Hamilton bought the property at 55 King St. (CIBC building), which includes the parking lot in question.

Hughson, which also owns The Building Formerly Known As Corbloc, paved the lot as part of a general spruce-up of its new holding.

Any chance of recovering your old 1980s headband that had been kicking around the gravel lo these many years is now gone.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Article ID# 2185589