Kincardine taking away lakefront parking, says resident

To the Editor:

Here we go again - another ill-conceived lakefront project.

The parking lot at the bottom of Lambton Street, at Saugeen Street, is being reinvented, and not in a good way, in my opinion. 

I live above this parking lot. I do not use it, I look over it. This new design is to my advantage (except the lights). Fewer cars in the lot, more cars along Saugeen and up Lambton. 

It is not advantageous to those of you who enjoyed parking at the boardwalk and observing the lake close up. Or those of you who come at night for the dark solitude to star-gaze or watch thunderstorms.

The plan appears to create an island in the middle of the parking lot with lights to flood the area in artificial light.

The lot will be paved, yahoo, with only eight spots at lakefront - two handicapped parking spots on the left and six general parking spots to the right; the island in the middle and 13 spots above the island. The rest of the parking will be a few facing south and north and the remainder on Saugeen and Lambton.

My objection is with the lighting; please don’t do this to me!

The parking I will leave for public consumption. If you think it’s a great idea, say so; if you don’t, call the municipality.

Shirley Wright
Kincardine

Editor’s Note:

Public works director Adam Weishar clarifies that the parking lot in total will contain 41 regular spaces plus the two accessible spaces. At most, the municipality is reducing the frontage by two spaces to the south of the walking area that aligns with the current gate.

Also, there will be angle-parking on Lambton and Saugeen Streets which will provide an additional 37 spaces plus two more accessible spaces.
 
With respect to streetlights, the municipality is adding a total of six lights to ensure the parking lot, multi-use path and road are lit up appropriately for safe use by pedestrians and motorists. There is current street lighting and park lighting that are being replaced.



Layout for the parking lot at Lambton and Saugeen Streets, Kincardine, between Macpherson Park and Dunsmoor Park