Two businesses near Spring Garden Road in downtown Halifax are concerned about plans to remove a parking space in front of their stores.
on Tuesday, Halifax Regional Council approved Brunswick Street Functional Plan, which is part of the Integrated Mobility Plan of the city.
Part of the plan includes installing a protected bike lane on Brunswick Street, on the same side between Duke Street and Citadel Hill. spring garden street.
This would involve the removal of a total of 59 on-street parking spaces – 23 on the west side of Brunswick Street between Cogswell and Sackville Streets, and 36 on both sides of the street between Sackville and Doyle Streets.
There will be accessible parking lots.
A rendering of the proposed bike lane and beautification of Brunswick Street.
Halifax Regional Municipality
The $10 million project will also include extensive sidewalks and beautification of the area.
Tom Doward, president of the Halifax Folklore Center, worries that the loss of parking will hurt patrons.
“There are a lot of businesses along this strip that are very upset by this,” he said. “If there’s no parking within the block, they have other places to go.”
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He added that many of his customers are older people who may have trouble carrying heavy guitar cases and musical equipment.
“I’ve been here for 50, 52 years and slowly they’re reducing the amount of parking around me,” Dowd said.
“It’s very noticeable. It affects business, and people tell me when they walk in the door, ‘I’ve had you around for three blocks, or three times, can’t find a parking spot.’
Tom Doward is concerned about what the loss of parking spots would mean for his store.
Megan King/Global News
He added that the Halifax Folklore Center is a “destination business” where people “are not coming at random.”
“There are other music stores, there are other places with parking,” he said. “And if it’s too difficult for them to find us, too difficult for them to park around us, then they won’t come.”
Next door, Maria Rose, owner of Steve-o-Reno, is concerned for customers who are elderly or disabled who may have difficulty getting to her cafe.
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“We would love to see this area become more livable, because it is more accessible for bikers, for pedestrians, but also for the people who currently use it,” she said.
“People who have mobility challenges or disabilities, our customers like us who drive from out of town, people who do not live on the Halifax Peninsula and will not necessarily benefit from these new developments.”
She said that while a nearby parkade provides a place for people to leave their cars, she said it fills up quickly in the winter or on days of inclement weather.
“We’re just trying to create a space that many different people can access,” she said. “And whether it’s by bike, on foot, by car, or however people like to come here, we want to be able to welcome everyone.”
Maria Rose says many of her customers have mobility issues and may find it difficult to reach the cafe if there is no parking out front.
Megan King/Global News
Katherine Peck, a landscape architect with the city, said the bike lanes would fill a “significant gap” — connecting existing bike lanes on Rainey Drive all the way to Spring Garden Road.
She said there is “an abundance of parking” available in the Brunswick Street area—”not immediately in front of their building, but adjacent to the building”—including 70 spaces in a nearby parking garage.
“I think people ideally want to be able to get off right in front of where they’re going,” Peck said.
“Unfortunately, the reality of a historic downtown city — we have small streets, we have narrow streets — and we have to find ways to make things better for everyone.”
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Another issue, she said, is the sidewalk is “very, very narrow” at the corner of Brunswick and Doyle Streets. As a parent of a young child, Peck says she has difficulty navigating that section of sidewalk with her stroller.
“If I have difficulty getting my stroller out there, that would be a challenge for someone using a mobility device,” she said.
“We really want to make sure that we widen that as much as we can.”
Peck said the city consulted with the Spring Garden Business Association and the Downtown Halifax Business Commission and sent surveys to businesses about the project, though he said this was due a year ago.
She said all business owners with direct access points on Brunswick Street will be consulted as soon as the next phase of the Brunswick Street Functional Plan comes into effect.
Construction for the interim project is scheduled to begin next year, with the full project expected to be commissioned in 2026-27.
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