Skip to content

Many roadblocks ahead for one-way idea

Why turning Third Avenue into a one-way street could be a costly and divisive project

Finding a parking spot in downtown Timmins can be a challenge, and a new idea brought forward by a group known as 'the parking committee' has people in the city talking. 

A proposal was brought to a recent council meeting which would see the entire length of Third Avenue turned into a one-way street, as well as removing all of the 'islands' with hopes of gaining income generating metered parking spots. This would come at a cost, both financially and aesthetically. 

"The city has always wanted to do that, but there's a cost. It's actually quite expensive to take those islands out," said Noella Rinaldo, a Ward 5 city councillor, as well as the director of the Downtown Timmins BIA. 

The Parking Commitee is combination of the city's clerks department, the bylaw department, the Downtown Timmins BIA, and the Timmins Chamber of Commerce. They meet approximately every six weeks.

"It came from the Clerks Department, it was a suggestion from them and it was like the sun had come out. I've been involved with the BIA for almost 30 years and every city has a parking committee, and struggles with their downtown parking. This was the first time we heard something a little bit different," said Rinaldo.

Before it was presented at the Oct. 17 meeting, Director of Public Works and Engineering Luc Duval was away on vacation, and thus didn't know about the proposal from the Parking Committee until it was mentioned at council that evening.

Duval quickly said that the idea of angled parking on both sides is a definite no-go, simply because of a lack of space.

"I e-mailed Luc and asked about one side of parking, if its a possibility, and I haven't heard back," said Rinaldo.

The current look of Downtown Timmins was put in place in the 1980s, as government funding provided many cities the opportunity to beautify their downtown cores. Timmins buried all of its overhead electrical work underground, as well as covering many streets with attractive brick work. There was also a concerted effort to plant trees. 

If the overall goal of converting Third Avenue into a one-way is simply more parking, it isn't sitting well with all BIA members.

"Some of the merchants are against it, which is surprising. We were surprised by the pushback. So if it is even a slight possibility, then we'll go out to our members and ask them what they think. There are those who are adamantly 'for' and those that are a little nervous about it. But I think its going to come down to 'is it even do-able?" said Rinaldo.

She said the city has gained between 30 and 40 metered parking spaces in the downtown area within the last two years. Recent removals of street lights at some intersections have opened up many of them. 

Rinaldo said she hears about parking issues everyday, and that its an issue every BIA deals with.

"No matter how much parking you have, people want to park in front of where they're going, and they want that spot. So we have a lot of parking in our parking lots, but there's always the need to have the meters." 

It is also a valid point to make. In previous generations, and in every other city, there is an expectation that you will rarely get the perfect spot to park during busy hours, and thus a short walk is the norm. In present day Timmins, it is not uncommon to see vehicles doing multiple laps around the block in an attempt to avoid a 30 second walk to the bank. Rinaldo doesn't agree with the sentiment that there is a lack of parking. 

"We have more than enough. I really think we do have enough parking spaces."

Removing the islands would be a costly endeavour. One of the problems is that all of the islands are different. Some house street lamps, bike racks, trash bins, benches, planters, and trees. Some have electrical work underneath them, some have newly buried electrical vaults. They are also all different sizes.

"You'd have to kind of do them one at a time and say 'what will this one cost me?" she said.

"The proposal from parking was 'we'd be interested in possibly paying for them because we would get extra revenue'. But I don't know if they understand the cost that's involved. They may not realize that some of them could be very expensive."

At the Oct. 17 meeting, Councillor Pat Bamford voiced his opposition the idea, and encouraged the city to continue on its path of making the city more pedestrian friendly. He said the one-way street idea would be a step back.

Long ago, in the late 1980s, there was a formal idea to construct a giant multi-level concrete parking garage between Cedar and Balsam, along Algonquin Boulevard. Currently that space is occupied by a rarely filled parking lot.

"When you think about it now, that would be a massive piece of infrastructure just sucking up cash if it had been built. It would be a white elephant sitting there," said Rinaldo, citing the inevitably massive maintenance costs.

NightFoliageThe city would have to make some tough decisions, including removing the trees and planters from the BIA area. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday

The parking garage would also not solve the problem of people simply not wanting to walk a few blocks to do their errands.

City council also has also discussed the idea of one-way alleyways throughout the downtown, but that idea has been shelved for now due to pushback by businesses who seem to all want something different. The one alley that could be formally changed to a one-way is behind Scotiabank, between Pine and Cedar. It is the only area in the BIA that has angled parking.

There are also several businesses, especially food services, in the BIA who require delivery trucks 

"With the one-way, that would definitely be a problem. That's one of the things we really have to think about," said Rinaldo.

Removing the islands from the area would include the destruction of most of the trees and planters.

"I would be scrambling to try to figure out how to keep greenery in the downtown, and even now I struggle with garbage cans, benches, and bike racks."

The sidewalks in the downtown are regulation sized, about 3 metres wide, which wouldn't provide much room for those items if the islands were removed. Rinaldo also believes that the winter issues would not be drastically improved with a one-way street. 

"It was worse in the old days. Honest to god, there's pictures where you'd swear you were in the arctic. They did not remove the snow, even close to what people think they remember. Snow removal has always been what its been. I haven't seen a picture yet of the dead of winter with no snowbanks. We rarely get complaints that the sidewalks aren't clear, it's the snow removal, which is cost and time. It takes them so much to remove the snow downtown, I think its four or five nights"

The cost is around $22,000 each year for downtown snow removal, and that doesn't include the parking lots.  

"There's a lot of logistics when you start thinking about it, and those people on Third would have to put up with construction. It's a big project if it was to go ahead, so this is just the start, it was just a possibility," she said.

Rinaldo said there is a BIA board meeting next Tuesday, which will be the first such meeting since the idea was discussed at city council. 

Duval is expected to bring a report to council at a meeting in the near future. Next council meeting is Monday, Nov. 7.