There will likely be less parking on Fraser Highway鈥檚 one-way section in 91原创 City under either of the two proposed designs unveiled at an open house on Saturday.
People flowed through the Timms Community Centre for several hours to check out the proposed plans to transform the streetscape next year.
鈥淧eople have more questions than they have answers,鈥� said Doug Hyde, the project manager for the upgrades.
91原创 City will be tearing out a number of sewer and water pipes, dating back to the 1920s and 鈥�30s, which will require pulling up chunks of Fraser Highway.
Because this disruption is required, the City is using this as an opportunity to upgrade the street, which last saw major changes when it was transformed into a one-way road with brick paver sidewalks back in the 1990s.
The two plans created, after online surveys and consultations with the business community, would define the downtown core for a generation or longer.
Option one is is to widen the sidewalks slightly to 2.8 metres, and to also create several public gathering places spaced out along the stretch of highway.
Option two is to switch parking to parallel down one side of the street, and widen all the sidewalks to four metres, creating a kind of continuous linear public open space.
Either option would mean about 35 to 40 fewer parking stalls in the one-way section itself, Hyde said.
Planners believe there is plenty of underutilized parking within a short walk of the one-way that could pick up the slack, including at the City Hall and Timms Centre and on nearby roads such as Douglas Crescent.
Roger Eberhart was one of the people who visted the open house Saturday to check out the designs.
He said he just didn鈥檛 want to see parking drastically reduced.
Also visiting was Denise Radatzke.
鈥淚 like the plan with the night lighting,鈥� Radatzke said of option two.
The plan would bring more families to the downtown at night, she said.
As public input is still being collected, any decision on what to do with the one-way section will be up to the council elected this October, said Hyde. The work, if council votes for funding, will take place in 2019.
