The architect of the parking building for Go Transit visited Council a couple of weeks ago. He came to tell us about the structure underway on Wellington Street. east of the station.
It's five storeys high....cement and metal mesh. Entrance is from Wellington Street. Exit from behind. There will be landscaping in front of the building. It's taking up a considerable amount of commercial/industrial designated land which didn't have to be re- zoned.
Because the developer is the Government of Ontario,we don't have any say in the design. The building is costing $27million. There will be no assessment revenue for the town. The province doesn't pay municipal taxes.
A tidy sum would be coming into the treasury if the development had been private.
860 parking spaces will be provided. They will be free. No jobs are being created.
Three more sites are being purchased close by to accommodate commuters.They will also come out of our sparse industrial/commercial land inventory.
Commuters will come in the morning to take the trains downtown. Again in the evening they will leave from there to various destinations.
Wellington Street is congested now throughout the day but of course the morning and evening rush hours will be considerably increased .
Being free, the new parking will make it more attractive to take the train from Aurora to and from the city.
At a time when all levels of government are supposedly encouraging people to leave their cars at home,we will have about fifteen hundred of them idly occupying valuable land, representing lost revenue, in the heart of our community from Monday to Friday between six o'clock and six o'clock.
We are currently conducting workshops for people to provide input into how we would like to see the Yonge and Wellington corridor develop. We are spending $75k on consultants.
We are looking for ideas on how to increase life and vigour to our downtown core.
Traffic on Yonge and Wellington has not helped much up to now. . In fact, it has generally been considered to be something of a hindrance.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
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5 comments:
“It's taking up a considerable amount of commercial/industrial designated land which didn't have to be re- zoned.”
Land which up until now has sat empty and unused.
“860 parking spaces will be provided. They will be free. No jobs are being created.”
What about the jobs created to build the structure not to mention the landscaping and future upkeep?
“Commuters will come in the morning to take the trains downtown. Again in the evening they will leave from there to various destinations.”
They already do this now. Some chose to go to the Newmarket Station as it has better parking available. Perhaps with more parking in Aurora some offshoot business might be brought into local businesses?
“Wellington Street is congested now throughout the day but of course the morning and evening rush hours will be considerably increased .
Being free, the new parking will make it more attractive to take the train from Aurora to and from the city.”
Having previously lived on Centre Street, they have been parking for free already. On the side streets and in Baldwin’s parking lot. Most of the times you could not even park on your own street in front of your own house due to all of the commuter cars parked there. The “traffic calming Joke” that was put in place did very little to stop people from outside the neighborhood from coming into the Northeastern quadrant. And when they did they would not slow down for the chicanes, a lot would speed up through them. One way streets/intersections were ignored.
I moved out of the neighborhood late last year, but I see the parking area as a betterment to the area and hopefully will address some of the issues of commuters and local residents.
This little news nugget may have snuck up on you but Aurora is a suburban bedroom community just like all of the other suburban bedroom communities which means, shock of shocks, residents commute. Hence the GO train. Hence parking for the GO train because, as it turns out, most commuter railroads decline to offer what one would consider to be door-to-door service. More commuters means more parking. A nice side effect is that easy access to GO parking will possibly make Aurora that much more attractive to some newcomers. It's quite simple really, unless of course you're somehow suggesting that the Town of Aurora should have had a say in all this. Now THAT would have been hilarious. Left up to the Town we wouldn't need parking because there wouldn't be a train. While waiting for a papal ruling on the two-thirds majority vote over whether to call it GO or OG, the mayor would emerge from a secret meeting, unilaterally christen the train the Snowball Express and declare that Aurora is officially Canada's Commuter Train Town. The Auroran would editorialize in a column ironically placed between two train ticket ads,that if it's ever built, the train should be forced to make a scenic stop in the downtown core so that every commuter could be kitted out with a handy "Guide to Falling Down Old Schools in Aurora" and a zucchini. Sorry councillor, as much as I hate to say it, this time the province did a good thing and improved a necessary service using property the Town apparently wasn't using anyway.
So, in your expert opinion what would be better use of this land? Something that would create local jobs, create tax revenue for the town? I would be interested in hearing your suggestions because this land has been idle for a long time, if you had something brilliant for it, I would have hoped it was already on the table.
The parking facility is needed. I have had occasion to take the train downtown and the current parking facilities are not sufficient.
"Being free, the new parking will it more attractive to take the train from Aurora to and from the city."
That is correct. Also they won't have to drive to Newmarket, Richmond Hill or King City because they can't get a parking space.
What "lost revenue" are we going to have? Do you think that people that take the trains are somehow going to take revenue away from downtown Aurora? To use the analogy, that train left the station a long time ago. Downtown Aurora is loosing revenue to east side Aurora, Newmarket, East Gwillimbury, Richmond Hill and Vaughan.
I can tell you how to improve the downtown core and it won't cost you $75 grand. Allow developers to build something without having to worry about being too high. Have them provide proper free parking that is easy to get to. Provide tax breaks for the owners of property on Yonge to renovate. Instead of throwing up road-blocks to developers, help them create a downtown that will get used. Get rid of properties that are a blight - I think you know which ones.
I think you have picked red herring subject here Evelyn. In a world where every left-wing, Birkenstock wearing tree-hugger wants us to use public transit, you are flying in the face of them.
Fuimus
As a regular Aurora GO-Train commuter, I must admit that I agree with the previous three comments. The current parking situation at the Aurora station is woefully inadequate; the parking garage is sorely needed. I would dearly love to leave my car at home, however, biking is not an option for me, and from where I live, taking the bus to the station would add an hour to what is already a 12 and a half hour day door-to-door, that's assuming I can make the tight connection, particularly in the winter time. I feel I am doing my part towards reducing pollution/emissions by taking the train in the first place, rather than driving up and down the 404 and the Don Valley Parking Lot, as I used to do. I personally can't wait for the garage to be finished; hopefully other commuters will respect the local residents by using the garage, rather than parking all over everywhere, as they are forced to do now.
Just a thought. Which will have more affect on Wellington traffic. The new GO parking lot or the new school being built between Industrial Parkway and John West Way?
The intersection at Industrial/Wellington is busy much like the Younge/Wellington intersection. Previously during rush hours it was difficult to turn off of Centre Street onto Industrial. With the new access to the school coming off of Industrial, what is being planned to help the flow of traffic in that area?
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