The Town of Newmarket is eyeing a new parking solution on Church Street to help the downtown core.
The municipality is looking at adding 44 parking spots along Church, according to downtown ward Councillor Bob Kwapis. The town confirmed the parking would be along the east side of Church from Millard Avenue to Eagle Street, which currently disallows parking except on Sundays.
Kwapis credited the BIA for the potential parking solution.
“It’s a bit of a walk from Church Street over to Main Street, but it is a street that is in demand,” Kwapis said at a Feb. 7 downtown BIA meeting. “It is a direct result of working with the BIA in order to say, ‘Let’s just give it another shot and see what’s possible here.’”
The municipality is seeking a temporary parking solution with the expected traffic increase coming from the opening of the Postmark Hotel. Although a more permanent solution is to come with more than 200 spots added at the current downtown tennis court site, that is still several months from completion.
The municipality said the concept is to allow two-hour parking Monday through Saturday, all day, except for a no-stopping zone between Park Avenue and Botsford Street, which would remain as is. Already allowed Sunday parking would also remain the same.
“The town is currently seeking feedback from the Church Street community and anticipates this will come forward to council in the spring,” the municipality said.
Kwapis noted the town has about 526 parking spots in the downtown area as is, plus about another 40 in the Gorman Pool area. The tentative 44 parking spots on Church Street should bring it up to more than 600 spots until the parking lot expansion at the tennis court site.
Kwapis also said the town is examining different software, or notification apps, that could tell people how many spots are open in real time.
As the town advances downtown parking, BIA chair Tom Hempen said businesses are responding as soon as possible.
“Speaking with business people over the last week, there’s some real excitement and gratitude,” Hempen said during the BIA meeting. “I want to thank council and our mayor and staff for working on this.
“Infrastructure is really the backbone of economic development,” Hempen added. “This is a piece of infrastructure that’s really needed for the residents of the Town of Newmarket to come down and enjoy the community spaces.”
