‘Do they want downtown to survive?’: Bolton business owners launch petition again parking restrictions

Caledonenterprise.com
July 30, 2020

It’s been difficult to stay in business during the COVID-19 outbreak, said the owners of two downtown Bolton businesses, Mille Notte and Pharmasave.

Rosa Alvarez, who has been running a lingerie shop in the community for more than 20 years, said parking issues have not made it any easier.

“It’s been all over the place,” said Alvarez. “They let people park on the street, then they didn’t, then they did again. Do they want downtown to survive?”

In July of 2019, Caledon and Peel started a one-year pilot project to see if all-day parking in downtown Bolton would calm traffic and encourage commuters to avoid the core and use the newly constructed bypass -- the Emil Kolb parkway, or alternative routes such as Albion-Vaughan Road.

Mona Nasiri, who owns the Pharmasave in the unit next to Mille Notte, said during the pilot, they experienced an increase in business with people being able to park on the street in front of the store.

But, as part of continued tweaking to traffic flow, the region is considering taking out street parking on the west side of the street -- in front of their businesses -- and put in bike lanes instead, she said.

The business owners have launched a petition against the move -- saying it would be detrimental to their business.

The pilot was supposed to come to an end July 31, but Sean Carrick, manager of traffic engineering with the region of Peel, said it has been extended because of COVID-19.

He said it will be in place until staff are able to present 12 months of data with normal traffic levels.

He said the pilot is a step toward a pedestrian-friendly vision for Bolton’s downtown.

An update on how it was going was presented to regional council Feb. 27 that identified some improvements, which were made this spring.

This included the installation of additional clarification signage, pavement marking modifications, installation of flexible hazard markers and designing full-traffic signalization at Queen and Sterne streets.

“A key part of implementing the pilot is making continuous improvements based on data and then monitoring,” said Carrick.

“It is an ongoing process to ensure our final results are as comprehensive as possible. We are also working with local businesses on some minor adjustments. Any improvements made require additional time to appropriately evaluate the effect they may have on the pilot results.”

According to a staff report at the halfway point of the study, traffic volumes have increased 14 per cent in the northbound direction on Coleraine Drive during evening peak hours, and 21 per cent in the southbound during morning peak.

As well, staff said volumes on Emil Kolb Parkway had increased six per cent in the northbound direction during evening peak hours, and eight per cent in the southbound direction during morning peak hours.

Volumes through the core have increased by four per cent in the southbound direction during morning peak hours but have decreased by 10 per cent in the northbound direction during evening peak hours.

Meanwhile, southbound morning travel time from Hickman to King has increased by three seconds, and northbound evening peak travel time has increased by 13 seconds.

As of July 28, the business owner’s petition had 230 signatures.

“With no parking available on the streets, we know it would make it hard for our patrons, customers, clients and patients and in return it would make it difficult for the businesses to survive,” said Nasiri.