Two businesses near Spring Garden Road in downtown Halifax are concerned about the planned removal of parking spaces in front of their stores.
On Tuesday, Halifax Regional Council approved the Brunswick Street Functional Plan, which is part of the city’s Integrated Mobility Plan.
Part of the plan includes installing a protected bike lane on Brunswick Street, on the same side as Citadel Hill, between Duke Street and Spring Garden Road.
It will involve removing a total of 59 on-street parking spaces — 23 along the west side of Brunswick Street between Cogswell and Sackville streets, and 36 on both sides of the street between Sackville and Doyle Streets.
Accessible parking spots will remain.
The $10 million project will also include wider sidewalks and beautification of the area.
Tom Doward, the president of the Halifax Folklore Centre, worries the loss of parking will deter customers.
“There are plenty of businesses along this strip who are very upset about it,” he said. “If there’s no parking within blocks, there’s other places for them to go.”
He said many of his clientele are older people who may struggle to carry heavy guitar cases and music equipment.
“I’ve been here for 50, 52 years and slowly they keep shrinking the amount of parking around me,” said Doward.
“It’s very noticeable. It affects business, and people tell me when they walk in the door, ‘I’ve circled you for three blocks, or three times, can’t find a parking spot.’”
He said the Halifax Folklore Centre is a “destination business” where people aren’t “randomly coming in.”
“There are other music stores, there are other places with parking,” he said. “And if it’s too difficult for them to find us, too difficult for them to park around us, they won’t come.”
Next door, Maria Rose, the owner of Steve-O-Reno’s, worries for clients who are elderly or disabled who may have difficulty getting to her cafe.
“We would love to see this area become more vibrant, for it to be more accessible to bikers, to pedestrians, but also to the people who currently access it,” she said.
“Folks who have mobility challenges or disabilities, our customers we love who drive in from outside of the city, people who don’t live on the Halifax peninsula and wouldn’t necessarily benefit from these new developments.”
She said while a nearby parkade provides a place for people to leave their cars, she said it quickly fills up in the winter or on days with bad weather.
“We’re just trying to create a space where many different people can access,” she said. “And whether that be by bike, by foot, by car, or however folks choose to get here, we want to be able to welcome everybody.”
Katherine Peck, a landscape architect with the city, said the bike lane would fill an “important gap” — connecting the existing bike lane on Rainnie Drive all the way to Spring Garden Road.
She said there is an “abundance of parking” available in the Brunswick Street area — “not immediately in front of their building, but adjacent to the building” — including 70 spaces at a nearby parking garage.
“I do understand people ideally want to be dropped off directly in front of where they’re going,” said Peck.
“Unfortunately, the realities of a historic downtown city — we’ve got small streets, we’ve got narrow streets — and we have to find ways to improve things for everyone.”
Another issue, she said, is the sidewalk at the corner of Brunswick and Doyle streets is “very, very narrow.” As the parent of a young child, Peck says she has difficulty navigating that stretch of the sidewalk with her stroller.
“If I have difficulty getting my stroller through there, someone using a mobility device is going to have a challenge,” she said.
“We really want to make sure that we widen those out as much as we can.”
Peck said the city consulted with the Spring Garden Business Association and the Downtown Halifax Business Commission and sent surveys to businesses about the project, though she noted that happened more than a year ago.
She said all business owners with access points directly on Brunswick Street will be consulted as the next phase of the Brunswick Street Functional Plan takes effect.
Construction for the interim project is set to begin next year, with the full project slated to begin in 2026-27.
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