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 picturesque nature of the street and the neighbourhood it borders.

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

Ward 11 Coun. Jason LeJeune said dozens of residents were concerned about the proposal. (CBC News)

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

LeJeune said residents he has heard from are worried the council is working to resolve issues that aren't supported by data and 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 downstream impacts," he said. "Are we going to add parking spaces to other arterial streets like Woodstock Road, Canada Street, these connectors that we rely on to move traffic?"

Coun. Margo Sheppard, vice-chair of the city's environmental stewardship committee, criticized the motion that would have involved adding parking spaces to Waterloo Row. (Aidan Cox/CBC)

He said residents also expressed worries about heritage preservation.

Sheppard repeated her concerns about the proposal on Monday, calling the road a "gateway to the city."

After debating the issue, councillors approved an amendment to remove Waterloo Row from a motion to  allow parking changes on a handful 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. That would require using part of the field in Morell Park, which is currently used for recreational sports, including baseball and soccer.

City of Fredericton Ward 11 Coun. Greg Ericson said the city should look to Morell Park to add more parking. (Jennifer Sweet/CBC)

Ward 8 Coun. Greg Ericson said that location 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."