Fredericton nixes plan to add parking spaces along Waterloo Row

City councillors voted Monday to remove Waterloo Row from a motion that would add more street parking to some Fredericton roads, after dozens of residents expressed concern about the plan.

During a council meeting in late June,city staff asked council to create about 50 new spaces on the eastern side of Waterloo Row between Lansdowne and Alexandra streets.

Waterloo Row offers a scenic route for motorists heading from the eastern end of Fredericton to its downtown, with views of the water on one side and opulent homes on the other. The road also serves as the face of Fredericton's heritage preservation area.

The proposal was met with criticism from Ward 1 Coun. Margo Sheppard, who said the addition of parking spaces seemed "antithetical" to the picturesquenature of the street and the neighbourhood it borders.

At a council meeting on Monday, Ward 11 Coun. Jason LeJeune said dozens of residents expressed concernaboutthe proposal.

"Overall, residents are not experiencing the impacts that we are trying to resolve," he said.

LeJeune said residents he has heard from are worriedthe council is working to resolve issues that aren't supported by dataand creating potential safety hazards in the process.

He said some residents thought the idea of narrowing the street to make room for parking spaces could create a delay in response times for first responders, and parallel parking could cause congestion and potential collisions.

"An overall concern was that just adding parking to arterial streets could have a lot of downstreamimpacts," he said. "Are we going to add parkingspaces to other arterial streets like Woodstock Road, Canada Street, these connectors that we rely on to move traffic?"

He said residents also expressed worries about heritage preservation.

Sheppard repeatedher concerns about theproposal on Monday, calling the roada "gateway to the city."

After debating the issue, councillorsapprovedan amendment to remove Waterloo Row from a motion toallowparking changes on ahandful of other streets in the city. The revised motion then received third reading.

The city had proposed the parking changes in an effort to improve safety and accessibility for families who use Morell Park.

Sheppard said the city should look at alternate options to create more parking in the downtown, including expanding the current parking area in the park.Thatwould requireusing part of the field in Morell Park,which is currently used for recreational sports, including baseball and soccer.

Ward 8 Coun. Greg Ericson said thatlocation would be worth looking into as a solution.

"I think we all can recognize that baseball field down there and the two soccer pitches are not regulated professional pitches that can't be altered in their size and orientation," he said.

"There's a lot of land down there and I'm sure we can find ways to accommodate the overflow parking requirements for venues."