PERTH - Two parking metres will be moved from one side of North Street to the other in order to accommodate a new driveway.
Elva Tysick of 70 North St. had asked council that two parking spots in front of her house could be removed to allow her to build.
“I realize the difficulty of parking in Perth, but people should also be able to use their houses,” said Coun. Ed McPherson, during the committee-of-the-whole meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 5. “I think we should allow taxpayers as much use of their property as possible.”
“A garage could easily be built at the end of the existing driveway,” said Jim Connell, director of protective services for the Town of Perth, who added that each parking metre brings in about $300 in revenue each year.
“These two parking spots are a little different in that they are in close proximity to the hotel,” said Coun. Jim Graff. “(But) we can certainly put ourselves into Ms. Tysick’s position.”
Mayor John Fenik agreed that off-street parking should be opened up, and that more municipal parking lots to service the downtown core could be considered.
“We should either find new spots or (be) leaving the configuration alone,” said Fenik.
McPherson commended the decision to move the parking metres across the road because “I don’t want to lose the parking revenue by moving it across the street, and give the taxpayer access to her house.”
The decision will now go before the traffic and parking committee.
Tysick agreed to cover the costs of moving the parking metres across the street.
“If it’s a reasonable cost, yes,” said Tysick, who was in attendance at the meeting. “I would like to remove those parking spots and install a driveway.”
“Elva, you can now make plans for your garage,” said Coun. Jim Boldt.
On a related parking issue, the Wilson Street parking lot matter continued to move along the pipeline at town hall, but Fenik was adamant that there was one major cosmetic change he wanted to see in the project.
“We should be working with hydro to bury those (hydro) poles and bury them deep,” said Fenik. “We should not have poles up in this day and age and in this climate. Every new project we do from now on should be burying items.”