Businesses along one of Moncton’s downtown side streets are concerned the possible demolition of a nearby parking lot could impact how many customers they may see through their doors when the summer weather hits.
The City of Moncton is looking into demolishing a lot on Lewis Street in order to widen the road so it can meet up with Assomption Boulevard at the intersection of Main Street.
Jessie Richard opened “Raid Ma Closet” on the street just 6 months ago and said as her first summer in business approaches, news of the potential demolition has her worried.
“I have concerns, concerns about losing parking,” Richard said.
Richard fears that if the city goes ahead with plans to demolish the parking lot, which is across the street form her store, she will lose the only nearby parking available to her customers. But the city says the work needs to be done.
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“It’s not aligned properly at the intersection with Assomption Bouleveard, which creates traffic issues, safety issues, parking issues, so this project will alleviate a lot of that.” said Moncton’s communication director, Isabelle Leblanc
Despite that, Richard feels the inconvenience to her customers may impede on her business.
“Is the road gonna be blocked? Are my customers able to walk up and down the road? Is my store accessible at all times?,” she said.
Steve Clerke who co-owns Gifts Galore, a store adjacent to the lot is also worried, and said that the location of the parking lot is crucial to the downtown core.
“People park here to go to city hall, they park in this lot to go to restaurants, they come to shop, they go to RCMP across the street, it’s a strategic parking lot. It’s the only visual parking lot on Main Street,” Clerke said.
The city maintains that this $4 million project has to move ahead to help densify the downtown core, and with a wider Lewis Street, LeBlanc said there will “likely” be more parking available than what is currently in place.
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Richard just hopes the city will keep businesses informed, if and when, the project goes ahead.
“I’d like to tell my customers now, ‘oh in a couple of weeks this is gonna take place, you can park here, you can park there,’ just to prepare everyone so that they don’t realize, ‘oh the road’s blocked, I’m going to skip Raid Ma Closet today,'” Richard said.
City council will vote on whether to go ahead with the project on May 15.
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