Township staff have completed design work on a new 43-car parking lot for the Walnut Grove Community Centre.
The new lot would go behind the pool, Township recreation facilities and service manager James Marvel advised in an email reply to a resident that was copied to Township council.
Marvel was responding to a complaint about a shortage of parking at the facility, located at 8889 Walnut Grove Dr. next to Walnut Grove Secondary School.
鈥淚 agree with you that there is a shortage of parking at the centre, particularly at peak times on weekdays around [9 a.m.] and then again once school gets out in the afternoon,鈥� Marvel wrote.
The centre has staggered start times of classes and programs to avoid having people arriving and departing all at the same time, and centre staff are asked to park at the 鈥渇ar ends鈥� of the centre parking lot or the school parking lot, Marvel said.
Because there is a shortage of available land close to the centre to create more parking, staff 鈥渉ave concluded that the only reasonable option that we have is to build on a small section of land on the west side of the building, behind the pool鈥� the email said.
There are drawbacks to the site, Marvel said, among them the location on the 鈥渄ark鈥� side of the building near a ravine and the distance people would have to from the lot to the front entrance.
鈥淲e are unsure that people would feel comfortable leaving their vehicles around the back of the facility where there are not as many 鈥渆yes on the property,鈥� Marvel said.
The design work on the 43 parking spaces has been completed and the project has been included in the Township five-year capital plan, Marvel added.
Other options, like a multi-level parkade, would be 鈥渆xtremely costly鈥� and were not considered.
