King Street business owners share BRT concerns with London city staff

A city committee will meet next week to review the feedback received from King Street business owners on London’s bus rapid transit (BRT) plans.

Dozens of merchants attended a meeting at city hall on Thursday to air their concerns surrounding the possible impact BRT routes and construction could have on their businesses.

The routes haven’t been finalized, but staff have proposed converting a section of King Street outside Budweiser Gardens into a single lane of eastbound traffic, with two lanes for BRT.

A reduction in parking and loading zones, as well as vehicular and pedestrian traffic, were the primary concerns raised during the meeting.

City engineer Kelly Scherr said staff are working on plans to mitigate the impact of construction, as well as changes to the streetscape.

“Removal of parking, for example, on King Street if bus rapid transit is to operate there, and we have to look at solutions for public parking in the area that are walkable, that are safe, and are reasonably priced, and we do have a parking strategy for downtown coming forward shortly and we’re hoping to be able to address some of those concerns,” said Scherr.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Removal of parking, for example, on King Street if bus rapid transit is to operate there, and we have to look at solutions for public parking in the area that are walkable, that are safe, and are reasonably priced, and we do have a parking strategy for downtown coming forward shortly and we're hoping to be able to address some of those concerns," said Scherr.

She admitted not all accommodations for businesses in the area can be made at this time.

“We’ve advanced some of those conversations from what would usually be a little bit later in the process to now, so we really want to sit down and listen to hear what might be options for them and we are starting to have some discussions that I think are fruitful,” Scherr said. “Have we got everyone’s problems solved yet? No, we don’t.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've advanced some of those conversations from what would usually be a little bit later in the process to now, so we really want to sit down and listen to hear what might be options for them and we are starting to have some discussions that I think are fruitful," Scherr said. "Have we got everyone's problems solved yet? No, we don't."

Coun. Tanya Park felt the discussion was positive, and hopes to make the plans as transparent as possible.

“People want to talk differently,” Park said. “They don’t want the EA (environmental assessment) process just to be a mere checking of boxes of any other process, they want to know all the information so we can all, as a community, wrap our head around the biggest project London has ever had.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "People want to talk differently," Park said. "They don't want the EA (environmental assessment) process just to be a mere checking of boxes of any other process, they want to know all the information so we can all, as a community, wrap our head around the biggest project London has ever had."

City staff will have a similar meeting with business owners along Richmond Row next Thursday, March 30.

Members of the civic works committee will meet Monday to review feedback received during Thursday’s meeting with King Street merchants.

Council isn’t expected to finalize BRT routes until June.

City hall wants to contribute just under $130 million dollars to the $560-million project, which has yet to secure funding from upper levels of government.