The future of the Victoria Street parking lot in Sarnia's downtown remains unclear, and the city's mayor is growing frustrated with how long the process is taking.
Mike Bradley made the comments at Wednesday's Lambton County Council meeting, where staff were directed to discuss an Option to Purchase Agreement for the donation of the lot from the city, for a possible affordable housing project.
The county said the agreement would benefit both parties because the space can continue to be used for public parking until senior government funding is secured.
Once that happens, the lot would be transferred to the county for the development of the project.
Mayor Bradley said more urgency is needed.
"This is really frustrating," said Bradley. "We offered this parking lot a year ago, and these issues should have been resolved by now between the two staffs to say 'look, this is the package' because we need to get on with this. By the time it gets back to city council and then to county council, we're losing months and months on moving forward and keeping to our own goal of getting projects done within 18 months. Let's just get this moving as quickly as possible."
Councillor Chrissy McRoberts raised concerns over the number of parking spaces.
"It was important for the city to add that the parking lot would retain some public parking for downtown businesses and employees that depend on that parking spot," said McRoberts. "So, if we can maybe work on something where the city retains ownership and the county owns the building, or something going forward, we cannot afford to give up those parking spots."
Councillor Brian White said affordable housing is a priority over parking.
"We at the city did just add more parking at our recent meeting," said White. "I think that if our teams can collaborate and put the best ideas together, we can probably find other parking solutions as well, not just on that site but nearby."
Councillor Bill Dennis said an affordable housing project 'in the middle of the downtown core' is not what the city needs.
"The vast majority of downtown businesses are against this," said Dennis. "We need quality investment in downtown Sarnia, we do not need a place of this magnitude right in the middle of downtown Sarnia, it attracts the wrong sort. Parking spots be darned, I don't think we'll need many parking spots downtown because of the lack of business acumen and the boneheaded decisions that have been made in the past couple of months, quite frankly. Downtown Sarnia is reeling from what's occurring at Rainbow Park right now. People are waiting until the end of their leases to leave downtown Sarnia because of a lack of leadership and courage."
Last July, the city agreed to hand over the 4,800 square metre property at 115 Victoria St. N to the County of Lambton for possible construction of affordable housing units.
In May, city council formalized its decision to declare the lot surplus and staff were directed to initiate the transfer.
County of Lambton staff will return to council for final instructions, but are currently recommending against including public parking due to insurance issues.