To replenish some of the 271 parking spaces eaten up by the event centre’s construction boundary, city council is considering a $500,000 expenditure to create 185 new spaces.
These spaces, spread throughout the city’s downtown core, are considered a temporary measure while the $200-million event centre building takes shape.
The event centre is anticipated to open in mid-2028.
In a report city council members will vote on during their Nov. 18 meeting, city Corporate Services general manager Kevin Fowke notes that planning for longer-term parking demands is “underway,” with his report highlighting “interim, temporary parking supply initiatives which enable adequate, safe parking solutions that support event centre construction space requirements.”
Another interim fix proposed is free GOVA Transit service for people attending ticketed events at the Sudbury Community Arena during the event centre’s construction to the arena’s immediate east.
“This program would permit ticket holders to access free transit across the City two hours before events at the Sudbury Arena until the end of the day by presenting their ticket (paper or electronic) to the bus operator,” Fowke’s report, which notes Niagara Region Transit employs a similar tactic.
Staff are also looking at a shuttle service to and from the York Street parking lots outside of Bell Park, where there are 300 parking spaces, to downtown Sudbury for peak load events, such as sold-out concerts or evenings with multiple events.
The construction of temporary parking lots proposed in Fowke’s report are anticipated to begin this month and be completed by the end of the year.
Work is to include “surface grading, the addition of parking area lighting, delineation of parking spaces with concrete barriers for visibility through winter as well as additional signage and line painting as required.”
As for long-term, it’s unclear how the city will handle parking once the new event centre opens in 2028.
One possibility is that the Sudbury Community Arena will be torn down and replaced with parking, at least temporarily. That is, unless a private investor comes forward with a plan for the more than 70-year-old building the city plans to divest of.
It’s estimated that the site could accommodate up to 160 additional spaces.
The city has planned for a dispersed parking model in which patrons park across a swath of downtown Sudbury using existing parking spots.
Although city Growth and Infrastructure general manager Tony Cecutti clarified in February, “There’s no parking structure that’s part of the scope of the work at this time,” this could change.
In Fowke’s Nov. 18 report, it’s noted that the city is working on compiling a “technical update to the existing downtown parking study and consider recommendations for improving parking management in the short, medium and long-term in support of downtown redevelopment.”
This update, he wrote, “will include an analysis of the potential need for a parking structure.”
Staff are anticipated to provide council with an update on the parking situation by the end of March.
As for now, the proposed temporary parking boost of 185 spaces includes the following:
- A new lot south of the Samaritan Centre on Elgin Street. This area used to contain rooming houses numbered as 356-360 Elgin St. and will contain 18 parking spaces.
- Extend the lot at the corner of Paris and Van Horne Streets where the Sudbury Multicultural Folk Arts Association building and parking used to be, to add 59 spaces.
- Introduce engineered parking assistance in the form of concrete barriers to better delineate parking spaces in the main area of the CP/Elgin Street lot west of the Bridge of Nations to result in an additional 70 spaces.
- Enhance markings at the curb (and for some areas along the retaining wall) on the west side of Elgin Street to better delineate on-street parking along Elgin, resulting in 10 additional on-street parking spaces.
- Remove brush and make snow loading arrangements for the Elgin Street / YMCA lot to create an additional nine parking spaces.
- Enhance line painting and allow angle parking at the south end of the Market Square lot to create 19 spaces.
The public portion of the Nov. 18 city council meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. It can be viewed in-person at the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre in Azilda or livestreamed by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.