Downtown parking still a concern
Lindsey Kuglin Brockton drivers and shoppers may have noticed that parking is at a premium in Walkerton's downtown.

Brockton council recently eliminated parking on the north side of Scott Street from Victoria to McNab Streets, to address safety concerns of residents finding it difficult to exit their driveways.

"The parking situation... on both sides of the street has gone from being bad, to being hazardous," one letter to council from a Scott Street resident said.

"In the name of safety... it's pretty crazy to have parking on both sides. It's a speedway, a very fast road. It's dangerous," Mayor Charlie Bagnato said.

Another letter from a Scott Street resident submitted to council said that traffic was regularly reduced to one lane because of vehicles parked on both sides.

But some area business owners and their staff aren't pleased about the parking cutbacks, as they are prohibited from parking all day on the main street, because of a two-hour parking limit which forces them to walk, and Scott Street is the closest area where they can park.

One building owner that houses several downtown businesses, wrote to council that while the employees of the businesses sometimes park in the publicly funded Catherine Street parking lot, it is often full, and would like to see another lot on the south side of Durham Street.

"This really is an ongoing burden for our business owners... and we're almost penalizing them for being successful," Bagnato said.

Coun. Dan Gieruszak said that downtown has lost approximately 20 parking spots in the last seven years because of road re-construction and safety concerns. "If we want to continue to support local businesses, this is something we have to look at sooner rather than later," Gieruszak said at last Monday's council meeting.

Coun. Charlie Reidl agreed. "If we take anymore parking from downtown, we're doing a disservice to business owners," he said.

Council discussed making Scott St. one-way, with parking on both sides and traffic flowing down the middle lane.

Bagnato said that may not work, as it might create congestion during peak travelling times. He said the last traffic count of that area saw 2,700 cars passing by in the morning.

"Before we go making one-way streets, we better make sure we won't have backups," Bagnato said, adding they should wait to see an updated traffic count.

Council will also look into purchasing property for a parking lot nearby.

But for the time being, the parking situation remains, and downtown employees have to make the trek on foot to work.

"We're definitely telling (employees) they will be ticketed if they park all day (downtown). We want those spots for consumers, not for employees," Mayor Bagnato said in a telephone interview, Friday.