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HOLLAND
COLLEGE • January 14, 2003
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COLLEGE
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| Enough
parking for everyone By Pam Bennett Parking space is adequate in downtown Charlottetown, says the city’s planning and development officer. Don Poole said a transportation study released in the spring showed there are 7,148 parking spaces downtown and on average 4,783 people use them. The study also shows there are 143 parking spaces for every 1,000 people in the greater Charlottetown area. Typically cities in this region with populations up to 60,000 people have 58 spaces per 1,000 people. Charlottetown ranks higher than most cities in the region when it comes to parking, he said. “The city has done well for parking.” The new parking garage on Fitzroy Street is now operating although it isn’t complete, said Poole. Five hundred and thirty spaces will be available once it’s finished and 300 are already spoken for. Businesses and public will use the garage, he added. Poole said the parking garage has solved a lot of the parking problems downtown. “I feel there is adequate parking downtown with the new parking garage.” There’s demand for parking but it isn’t cheap, he said. Elizabeth Daw, an employee with CDC, said the new garage on Fitzroy Street cost about $7.5 million. Monthly and daily rates area available, said Daw. It costs $80 a month to park in the garage, $60 a month for students or $1 per hour or part of an hour. Poole said parking downtown is a problem because people don’t like to walk. There is ample parking downtown, he said, but everyone wants to park close to the buildings they’re visiting. He said what people don’t realize is when they walk through the Confederation Mall they could have walked the entire downtown area twice. The city tried to encourage residents to walk in the downtown area by decorating, said Poole. He hopes more people will park on side streets and walk to their destination so they can enjoy the decorations, get some fresh air and take advantage of the friendliness of the area. “We have a strong downtown in Charlottetown,” he said. The city also has free downtown parking during Christmas to promote downtown businesses, said Poole. Charlottetown has metered parking the rest of the year to keep people moving, including employees who work downtown, he said. Otherwise they would stay there all day. |
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