The Town of Newmarket is going ahead with plans to expand downtown parking this summer by removing the downtown tennis courts.
Council committee of the whole formally backed the plan to build a modular parking structure that could add more than 200 space Feb. 5. The move is meant to get more downtown parking online as quickly as possible in the face of an expected traffic increase caused by the upcoming opening of the Postmark Hotel.
Newmarket Councillor Bob Kwapis said he is sure that staff will work well to accommodate tennis players, and he is glad to see the project move forward.
“The local businesses are very dependent on this. That’s their livelihood, it’s their priority. That’s how they feed their families,” Kwapis said. “Now, with the tourism coming in, and that we’re encouraging the tourism, I see the future of downtown getting more prosperous and more exciting.”
Newmarket businesses have called for years for more downtown parking to help during busier times of the season. Construction is expected to begin this summer, with the modular type structure expected to take far less time than a more conventional build.
“The prefabricated modular elements are transported to the site and are mounted on top of each other,” the staff report said. “This results in a much shorter time to construct than if it were a traditional poured-in-place structure.”
But the move has garnered controversy over the past week, with the town not yet having a replacement facility ready for tennis players. In response, town representatives, including Mayor John Taylor, spoke with the Newmarket Community Tennis Club Feb. 2 on accommodating the club at other facilities throughout the summer.
“I know it will be a little inconvenient for many players,” Kwapis said, adding that staff are “making sure that this inconvenience for the tennis players is minimized as much as possible.”
Director of engineering service Rachel Prudhomme said staff will work on the request for proposals for a design-build of the parking structure as soon as the council provides direction. While that is open, Prudhomme said the municipality could prepare the ground for the modular structure to come in.
Councillors noted that the construction will also put pressure on the parking, with the resolution asking staff to report back on measures to alleviate that in early May. Prudhomme said the modular nature of the construction means that there would be less disturbance to parking than there would be otherwise, in a more typical construction scenario.
Shovels in the ground to prepare the base level should hopefully start in early summer, Prudhomme said.
“If I can be a little ambitious, we’re really going to try everything to do that,” Prudhomme said.
In the meantime, construction is underway on a new tennis facility coming to the Shining Hill development area in the southwest corner of town. But that is not anticipated to be ready for the summer season.
Taylor said all the efforts from the municipality to boost the downtown has helped create these parking challenges.
"It’s a good problem to have, but it’s a better problem to solve, and I think this is going to be a significant improvement,” Taylor said, adding thanks for the tennis community's patience.. “There’s a great deal of work that’s been done, and is being done, to finalize that and make sure it’s as fulsome as we can possibly make it.”
