Residents protest proposed parking lots at Marie Curtis Park

Residents protest proposed parking lots at Marie Curtis Park. Residents are protesting the planned removal of an existent lot on the eastern side of Marie Curtis Park and its replacement by two smaller lots, which are both off 42nd Street. Courtesy/SLR Consulting

Longtime 42nd Street resident Wayne Parker, who spearheaded the protest, dropped the petition off at Etobicoke-Lakeshore Councillor Mark Grimes' office last Friday and also emailed Mayor-elect Rob Ford about his concerns. The signatures collected so far are just the tip of the iceberg, he said.

"If you yell loud enough, people will hear," he said. "We're not going to stop. This parking issue needs to be addressed. Why not leave it the way it is when it suits the needs of the neighbourhood and the people who visit the park? It's wasting taxpayer money that could be used for other things in the park development."

The parking situation at issue involves the removal of an existent lot on the eastern side of the park and its replacement by two smaller lots - both off 42nd Street, one just south of Lake Shore Boulevard West and the other further south, directly across from Hilo Road.

Parker and supporters of his petition argue such a change will only be a detriment to local residents. Included among their complaints about the proposed parking changes are: that residents facing the park will be faced with the constant traffic flow and its related noise; that nighttime lighting in the lots will impact upon residences located directly across from the lots; that by dividing the parking into two lots, traffic will be increased on both Hilo Road and James Street; that traffic at the intersection of Lake Shore and 42nd Street will be adversely affected; and that use of the lot planned just south of Lake Shore Boulevard West will be taken over by residents of a new condo development going in nearby and by GO riders.

"It is very obvious this location would mainly serve as a parking facility for visitors to this new condominium complex and serve the surrounding area, such as overflow from the GO station," Parker argued. "The parking located for Marie Curtis is for visitors to the park and should not serve as visitor parking for the condominium and surrounding area."

Grimes was out of the country and therefore unavailable for comment on the issue of the parking petition this week, but at a meeting unveiling the two-phased revitalization of Marie Curtis Park held at the Assembly Hall on Nov. 9, he acknowledged that the parking issue was a problem.

"I'm concerned about it, too. I don't want that (north parking lot) to become a GO parking lot, so that's an issue that is on the radar screen," he said. "I don't know what the answer is yet, but I have staff working on a solution...I don't think we have it right yet, but I think we're close."

The parking changes are slated for the second phase of the Marie Curtis Park revitalization, to be undertaken in 2012.