King Township paints 58 parking spaces to relieve Schomberg Main Street issues

“The repainted parking stall lines are a big help to local businesses”

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 3, 2019
Sheila Wang

Drive through Schomberg on a sunny day, and you can’t miss the freshly-paint bright white markings for parking on both sides of Main Street.

King Township staff painted 58 parking spaces by hand along Main Street over the weekend as the first step toward solving the parking problem that has long plagued the historic downtown.

The surface-marking work between Church Street and Dr. Kay Drive began in the evening of Aug. 25 and lasted about 12 hours, said Jamie Smyth, King township’s economic development officer.

“The repainted parking stall lines are a big help to local businesses,” Smyth said. “Now it is clear where their customers and visitors to Schomberg can and cannot park. And residents who rely on on-street overnight parking benefit as well.”

The newly marked parking spots -- including two handicapped parking stalls -- is part of the ongoing Schomberg revitalization project launched in fall 2017, Smyth noted.

In addition to the surface painting, three chicanes were removed from the street for the purpose of improving the flow of traffic.

Smyth thanked the residents for their support in the project by removing their cars from the street to allow for the overnight surface marking.

A survey conducted last fall indicated that 81 per cent of Schomberg residents identified parking on Main Street as a main problem. It was also the top concern shared by many businesses located on the historic street.

“Parking has always been an issue on Main Street,” said local RONA store manager Clint Marsh. “People just parked wherever they saw a space. Now at least it shows where you can park. I think it’s a lot more organized.”

Earlier this year in May, King council voted to adopt a slew of actions to implement the Main Street revitalization strategy which included potential on-street and in-lot parking improvements for the village.

The decision was a result of a Core Area Parking Study conducted last year which analyzed the existing parking supply and demand, and looked at the future parking needs in Schomberg.

The study identified 375 parking spaces in the core area of Schomberg, plus on-street neighbourhood parking consisting of 140 on-street parking spaces, 20 off-street spaces as well as 215 publicly accessible private parking.

Charles Cooper, president of Schomberg Village Association, applauded the township’s latest efforts which he deemed “a small but important infrastructure improvement.”

Cooper said the revitalization work has been mainly focused on economic development and required a lot of background work, such as researching and polling. But he said it was also essential to the physical improvements so that people could see.

“No one wants to go to a place that looks unkept and unloved,” he said. “The painting of the parking lines on the street will remove that confusion and make it easier to park without concern of a ticket.”

Cooper also pointed out a few other visible changes on Main Street, including the painting of the construction hoarding in the centre of the street, the small garden at Dr. Kay Drive and Main Street, as well as the mural on the wall at Church Street and Main Street.