A new park is in the works for Grand Central, 'Angela Street Parkette' on Angela Street, just south of Miller Park.
The 1.46-acre park lot was graded and sodded by the developer four years ago and is connected to valley lands.
In Tuesday night's Committee of the Whole Meeting at the BWG Council meeting, councillors deliberated on two design concepts presented by staff.
Both options include general amenities like trails, a playground area, seating, a shade structure, a bike rack, lighting and plants. The difference between Option 1 and Option 2, is the second option includes five parking spaces.
The report indicated that in the past, parkettes have not included parking spaces as a way to preserve as much green space as possible. It noted that most of the visitors to parkettes are usually those within walking distance, although some do choose to drive.
Staff noted their concern over the possibility of the parking spaces being used by nearby residents for overflow parking and made the recommendation for Option 1.
But not all councillors agreed.
Coun. Mark Contois, who lives on a street with a parkette said, he was in favour of adding the parking spaces.
"They drive and they will park," he warned, adding that he has seen it first hand. "What happens is they start to park in front of people's homes."
He and Deputy Mayor James Leduc also recommended there be handicap spaces made available.
Coun. Peter Ferragine noted there are issues with parking in residential areas overall, but for this parkette, the point is to encourage residents to walk to it.
"They shouldn't be driving there in the first place," he said, adding that he sees people parking vehicles daily at the Lion's Park parking lot, who use it for overflow parking.
"It's packed!" he exclaimed.
Coun. Contois argued that he'd rather see the overflow vehicles in the parking spaces than on the streets.
Coun. Gary Lamb was in support of Option 1.
"I think we should be looking at Option 1, we don't have to clear it, plow it or maintain it...it's an expense," he said of the potential parking lot.
Coun. Ron Orr and Mayor Rob Keffer also supported Option 1.
Mayor Keffer asked if the town was under any legal obligations to add a parking lot.
"Did we tuck back the number of lots because we wanted parking at one end of the street?" he asked Chief Administrative Officer Geoff McKnight.
McKnight said at the time of the development, they were looking at options to accommodate some parking due to the number of townhomes on Webb and Angela Streets.
"There are no obligations (to put in parking) it was more of a request to have a look at what options might be available," confirmed McKnight.
The total cost for the parkette for Option 1 would be $398K, while Option 2, with parking, would cost $410K.
The town has applied for a grant from the County of Simcoe's Trails Connecting Communities program for $30K to help cover the costs of the asphalt trail system through the parkette.
No decision was made at Tuesday night's meeting and will be brought back to council for a vote on at a later date.
