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Redevelopment of downtown lot could lead to more parking spaces

August 21, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Mike Baker

Orangeville Council has learned that the potential redevelopment of land across from Town Hall could significantly increase the existing parking capacity in the downtown core.

The Town’s elected officials have been considering their options for land sitting at 82 and 86-90 Broadway, which currently houses a 125-spot municipal parking lot. Earlier this year, Mayor Sandy Brown indicated the site could be ripe for development, considering its position at the heart of Orangeville’s downtown core. There have been tentative discussions to build a multi-purpose high rise building on the approximately one-acre lot, featuring commercial space, upper-level residential dwellings and a multi-level parking facility. 

One big stumbling block standing in the way of any such project is the potential cost, which would almost certainly come in at several million dollars. To offset this problem, Ray Osmond, the Town’s General Manager of Community Services, brought forth three possibilities for the site at a Council meeting back in May. The first option would be for the Town to sell the land to a private developer on the understanding they would build something that fits in with Council’s vision for the site. The second option would be for the municipality to try and establish a long-term lease of the property, allowing for development, while the third would see the Town enter into a private-public partnership. Here, the Town would offer up the value of the land, with a private developer fronting the costs for building on the site, working alongside Council on any proposal. 

Unsure over their next best steps, Council made the decision to spend $50,000 hiring a consultant who, they hoped, would be able to paint a clearer picture for the potential future use of the land in question. On Aug. 10, that consultancy firm provided their first initial thoughts to Council. 

“There are a variety of uses, at this point, for the site. We believe those (ideal) uses will be residential, with ground floor commercial and public parking,” said Scott Walker, of Barry Lyon Consultants. “We are at the beginning of this process. We will be examining a number of scenarios for the site, from a couple of different approaches, including sale for redevelopment, and ground lease for redevelopment.”

Mr. Walker has already held discussions with the Orangeville Business Improvement Area (BIA), and plans to meet with Heritage Orangeville to find out what that group would look to see done at the site. He expects to be in a position to make a formal recommendation to Council before the end of the year. 

The BIA will likely play a big part in any final decision. While the Town purchased the land at 86-90 Broadway back in 2007, at an outlay of $999,000, they struck a partnership with the BIA that saw the downtown stewards take over the loan payments on the property. The Town then joined forces with the BIA once again in 2012, when it purchased the land at 82 Broadway for $750,000. Through that agreement, the Town fronted a 25 percent down payment ($187,500), with the BIA picking up the rest of the bill, around $562,500, payable over a 12 year period. As a result of these past agreement, should the Town sell the land in question, 75 percent of the funds will be payable to the BIA. 

The BIA’s main concern, according to Coun. Debbie Sherwood, who sits on the local organization’s board, relates to parking. Mr. Walker indicated any development project at the site would likely include underground parking. 

“Whoever develops the site is going to have to put their parking below grade to allow the first couple of stories to be commercial stores, or residential,” Mr. Walker said. “We’re going to have to go underground for parking.”

With two levels of underground parking, there could eventually be anywhere between 150 and 200 spots at the site. One potential issue, Mr. Walker says, is the added cost that comes with developing an underground parking lot. He estimated each parking stall could cost as much as $50,000. 

Despite that, the BIA’s position, Coun. Sherwood says, remains unchanged. 

“The position of the BIA will be to not lose one single spot of those 120 parking spots,” Coun. Sherwood said. “If we can have more, then great.”

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