Parking predicament
Annapolis Royal decides to remove parking from downtown wharf, but issue slated for more discussion
“It’s a huge economic driver … You (can) ask any business owner in the town and Saturday morning is their day.” Laura Robinson General manager, Thistle Hospitality Group
jason.malloy @saltwire.com
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Laura Robinson is concerned about what impacts a recent decision by Annapolis Royal town council will have on a crucial tourist season for businesses in town.
Council decided in April to ban the long-standing practice of vehicles parking on the wharf due to weight load restrictions, maintenance requirements and potential liability issues.
“This is going to drastically affect our tourism,” said Robinson, general manager of the Thistle Hospitality Group, which operates Founders House Dining & Drinks, the Fort View Golf Course and the Whiskey Teller. “Making a town, and businesses within the town, inaccessible to the people who are visiting it makes people not want to come back.”
The wharf is regularly used for parking but becomes crucial during Saturday mornings when the Annapolis Royal Farmers and Traders Market, with its 100-plus vendors, draws a crowd to the downtown core.
“It’s a huge economic driver,” Robinson said. “You (can) ask any business owner in the town and Saturday morning is their day.”
Robinson said she fears the decision might drive patrons away from town, long known as a tourist destination for the Annapolis Valley.
“If we’re making it difficult for those people to travel around our town, they’re not going to want to come back,” Robinson said. “They’re going to go to towns that are easier to access for their vacations.”
But the issue may not be a done deal. The topic was on town council’s agenda for May 18. Results were unavailable at press time. For an update, visit saltwire.com.
On May 16, Mayor Amery Boyer said council members have heard from the public, including its business community, since making its decision in April.
“I know for sure that will be discussed (May 18).”
Boyer said the issue was raised at the traffic flow advisory committee in November and at three subsequent meetings before arriving on council’s table in April.
She said committees can make recommendations to council or committee of the whole. Because council was the next to meet after the traffic flow advisory committee’s session, its’ recommendation was sent there. If it went to the committee of the whole first, it would have given council members two more weeks to make a final decision.
“All of the things that could have alerted council to an important decision seemed to have been missed by all of us and I will accept responsibility too,” Boyer told the SaltWire Network.
The town’s website hosts a question and answer section on the issue that says the change would take effect in time for the first market of the year, which is scheduled for May 21. But the motion passed at the April meeting did not include a start date for the change, Boyer said.