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Council questioned why accessible parking spaces moved

August 13, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Orangeville seems to have regressed in efforts to open the town to more accessibility, according to one local advocate.

Orangeville resident James Jackson, a local accessibility advocate, said during council’s Aug. 10 meeting that the municipality is “going backwards” regarding accessibility efforts at facilities.

A support group he once attended formerly met at the Tony Rose Memorial Recreation Centre.

The arena’s drop-off area was used to unload materials necessary for the support group, he said. But that area has since been taken away.

“And now all the accessible parking is so [much] further away,” Jackson said.

Actually, he said, accessible parking spaces have been moved at many municipal buildings.

He said his wife takes their daughter to summer camp each day at the Alder Street Arena. She measured from an accessible parking space to where the summer camp is held inside the building and found that it is about half a mile.

“For somebody who has mobility issues, you’re adding more stress and pain and everything else,” he said.

Attending the council meeting was more arduous than that unless he wanted to park along the side of Broadway. But that, he said, would be like taking his life in his hands, pushing his walker.

The sloped entrance at the Mill Street library branch is a problem for some people who use wheelchairs.

“You’re going to go right out into the road,” Jackson said.

Orangeville doesn’t have on staff somebody responsible for accessibility issues. And, he said, a council committee that looked after those interests was disbanded about two months ago.

“We seem to be taking the parking farther from the entrances, making it harder,” Jackson said.

Tim Kocialek, the town’s general manager of infrastructure services, said the issue at the Tony Rose arena was the result of a miscommunication with a contractor working at the facility.

He said staff is looking at how to mark two smaller Type A accessibility parking spaces and two larger Type B spots that will accommodate accessibility vans. Currently, there are three Type A spots there.

“We do have an in-house person that is reviewing it,” Kocialek said. “We’re getting some comments from him as part of the application.”

David Smith, the town’s CAO, said an accessibility specialist has been hired by the town on a short-term basis.

“That’s an interim measure,” he said, and added that there is a plan to make that a permanent part-time position in next year’s municipal operating and capital budget.

“In the meantime, we do have the tools and abilities,” Smith said.

Councillor Rick Stevens said the Access Orangeville Committee hasn’t been dissolved. Rather, the last two meetings were merely cancelled.

Regarding the Tony Rose arena, he said staff will put accessibility parking spaces at the side of the building.

“I also wasn’t happy when the accessibility spot at Tony Rose was taken away,” he said.

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