I am a resident of the Goodwin Drive Condominium where overnight street parking has been permitted for the past two years. I am also the current president of the condominium board and have been for the past few years. I did request to present at the council meeting where street parking was to be discussed but my request was too late to be accepted as a presenter. I did attend the session on Monday evening October 15, 2012.
My concerns are as follows
I totally disagree with any parking on the Goodwin Drive for the following reasons1. Exiting the complex is a very difficult task as you cannot see cars coming from either direction unless you have the front of your car positioned in a driving lane.
2. Although the winter of 2012 was a very mild one with little snow the previous winter of 2011 had several days where the snow banks (and frozen snow surrounding parked cars) pushed parked cars out fifteen feet from the curb which meant that cars or the city bus could not pass on the street it also meant you were half way across Goodwin Drive before you could see oncoming traffic from either direction when exiting the driveway. I also noted vehicles parked on the street that never moved for more than a week.
3. All Condo owners were well aware of the parking available when they purchased their units. There was no promise of extra parking spaces being made available for second vehicle families.
4. Anyone who was able to buy a second parking spot from Reid’s paid in excess of $9000.00 with fees those spots are now selling for less than half that amount if they can be sold at all. I have a three bedroom condo which had an option to purchase a second spot (which I did for my wife’s car) for the $9000.00.
5. If the city has made an error in allowing this complex to be built with less than the 1.25 (councilor Van Hellemond confirmed this number) parking spots per condo maybe the onus should be on the city to reimburse the owners of second parking spots the $5000.00 they have overpaid. If there was no street parking the available parking spaces would probably return to their earlier valuation of $9000.00.
6. Parking on city streets is not a good idea and should only be used in extreme circumstances (houses with no driveways). Street parking is not progress nor should the prospect of charging someone to do it be viewed as a good reason. DG