City may limit building demolition for parking

Concern is fewer buildings mean less reason to visit commercial districts

Forty-three buildings in Windsor were torn down to create parking between 1986 and 2016, something that has some members of council concerned.

So the City of Windsor on Monday took a step toward limiting what buildings can be demolished in favour of surface lots.

“It’s rather shocking how many buildings we’ve torn down,” Coun. Chris Holt said before a planning, heritage and economic standing committee meeting. “Any good new urbanist knows you don’t tear down buildings in walkable commercial districts to put in surface parking.”

Hearing a rumour that an Old Walkerville building might be knocked down for parking, Holt asked a council question a year and a half ago, wondering what limits could be established on paving over demolished structures. An interim bylaw was established at the time limiting such demolitions in walkable commercial areas, though it expires Sept. 6.

Council will consider permanently banning building teardowns for parking on commercial strips.

“It really breaks up the flow and the amenities on the street,” Holt said. “And it really starts to erode the success of those neighbourhoods.”

There’s even a term for it: Pensacola Parking Syndrome, after the Florida city that demolished buildings to entice people with more parking until the area was no longer considered desirable.

“This is a phenomenon that all BIAs and main streets across North America are dealing with, because they’re getting more and more popular,” Holt said. “We start tearing down old buildings to accommodate parking, but it’s these old buildings that are driving the traffic in the first place.”

Now administration will report back on suggested solutions, such as possibly allowing homes behind

commercial strips in business improvement areas to be torn down for parking, as is the case on Ottawa and Erie streets. Downtown Windsor will likely be considered separately, since it has highrises and parking structures that the other areas do not.

But Holt prefers incentives for encouraging people not to drive in the first place, such as better public transit, more cycling infrastructure and walkable neighbourhoods.

Meanwhile, a report that went to council Monday outlines in detail where buildings have disappeared in favour of parking the last three decades, with maps and photos, some of which will be on display at a public consultation meeting at city hall on Monday.

“I give administration credit,” Holt said. “They’ve done a lot of homework on this.”

Senior city planner Greg Atkinson said the city has been studying the issue for more than a year and noted that the trend becomes stark when looked at as a whole.

“We’re used to the landscape now but when you look back at the pictures you say, ‘Oh, I remember that building, and now it’s a parking lot,’ ” Atkinson said. “So you kind of get a sense for how the cumulative effects really do negatively impact these areas we shop in and work in everyday.”

What’s more, Atkinson predicts the trend will only continue if something isn’t done. “Every year you lose a couple of buildings for parking,” Atkinson said.