A new, 350-space multi-level parking garage could be built on city-owned land on Queen Street in downtown Kingston, according to a feasibility study.
It will likely be left to the new council to decide whether the facility gets tax funding.
Councillors commissioned the $211,000 feasibility study in early 2017 to look for ways to replace hundreds of public parking spaces that will be lost to future development in the downtown core. The study focused on redeveloping the Byron parking lot at 169 Queen St., near Montreal Street, which is currently a 74-space surface lot.
Consultants determined the site is big enough to construct a six-storey parking garage at a cost of $25 million. The price tag is considerably higher than the $18-million figure that councillors were originally told.
Officials have long stressed the need for more parking for shoppers, visitors and daily commuters.
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“It is expected that the new parking facility would accommodate short-term, daily (commuter), as well as long-term parking users,” according to a report by Sheila Kidd, deputy commissioner of municipal operations, transportation and infrastructure services.
Staff also noted that 20 per cent of the spaces (about 70 stalls) would be dedicated in the proposed garage as electric vehicle charging stations.
The 350-parking-space garage would not only accommodate users of the existing lot, but replace public parking spaces on lower Queen Street, where Homestead Land Holdings Ltd. plans to construct two high-rise buildings. Homestead has allowed the city to provide daily parking on its properties until the sites are developed.
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Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. (RJC) reviewed technical options, site requirements, preliminary design and traffic impacts to conclude the Queen Street lot can accommodate a large parking structure that would rival the size of the Chown garage on nearby Brock Street.
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However, it’s not a done deal.
One important hurdle is to get the lot’s neighbours on board, since the garage would cover virtually the entire footprint of the existing Queen Street space. Future maintenance would require “access rights from adjacent property owners to the immediate north and west of the site,” according to the study.
Councillors must also approve the $25-million price tag in the 2019 municipal budget, which may not happen until a new council is sworn in following the Oct. 22 municipal election.
A staff report that asks council to accept the feasibility study results, negotiate access rights with neighbours and to include the garage price in the 2019 budget was supposed to be discussed at the Oct. 2 council meeting — the final meeting before the civic election — but it was withdrawn at the last minute so staff could provide more details to council.
It’s expected the matter will return to council later this year.
Consultants have provided two conceptual drawings of the proposed six-level concrete garage with different exterior designs. One version shows an open-air parking structure which allows natural ventilation. The other drawing shows a partially enclosed structure. Both concepts include self-harm safety barriers.
The study also recommends the multi-level garage should operate on an un-gated revenue control system — essentially an honour system of payment with regular bylaw enforcement — in order to minimize traffic queuing on Queen Street and maximize the number of stall spaces.
The report suggested zoning approvals could be completed by next fall, allowing for the start of construction with a completion date about 18 months later.
Even though Queen Street is on a slope, consultants say moving vehicles in and out of the garage should not be a problem. “A traffic impact assessment was conducted which identified that the intersections within the study area would continue to operate with good levels of service with the projected development at the site.”
The Queen Street garage isn’t the only area being looked at to increase the downtown’s supply of public parking.
The city recently purchased a prime lot at Ontario and Brock streets with potential plans for multi-level parking and commercial development, and it also owns the large surface lot across from the Leon’s Centre arena.
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