Port Dalhousie pedestrian mall gets thumbs down
St. Catharines city councillors ask Niagara Region to scrap traffic plan one resident calls ‘absolute death sentence’ for area’s retailers
Calling it “asinine,” “ludicrous” and a “mistake,” city council is asking Niagara Region to scrap a plan to create a pedestrian mall in Port Dalhousie in the works for years and go back to the drawing board.
St. Catharines councillors and delegates cited safety, traffic congestion and removal of parking spaces as the main concerns about the plan, which would see the Lock Street thoroughfare closed to vehicles.
“Coun. (Carlos) Garcia and I have been deluged by residents and business owners expressing serious concern regarding the impact of blocking Lock Street,” said Port Dalhousie Coun. Bruce Williamson, seconding a motion by Garcia to ask the Region to halt the project and come up with a new plan.
“It may be not perfect timing, but it’s never too late to stop the mistake from happening.”
Niagara Region’s plan, shared during a public consultation meeting in 2021, would turn the Lock Street artery in the commercial core into a part-time pedestrian mall or “flexible use area.”
Traffic would be rerouted on Lakeport Road and Main Street, which run adjacent to the Lakeside Park parking lot below. The streets are currently one-way and would be converted to two-way traffic.
Port Dalhousie Coun. Carlos Garcia said the proposal would create safety hazards by forcing drivers and cyclists to navigate two steep slopes and two blind corners around tall buildings approved in the commercial core.
He said the plan will also eliminate at least 34 parking sports on Lock, Lakeport and Main streets, which would be “devastating” to Port Dalhousie businesses and pave over green space, encroaching onto the harbour walkway.
“What we’re asking is for the Region to develop a new plan that addresses these key issues we have identified,” said Garcia, adding once there’s an acceptable plan it can be presented to city and regional councils which haven’t approved anything.
“We need to protect Port Dalhousie and our businesses.”
In 2019, as part of road reconstruction plans for the three Port Dalhousie streets, also known as Regional Road 87, the Region started a municipal class environmental assessment. It studied alternatives for the area, looking at road widths, parking, cyclists, pedestrians, safety issues, heritage and transit.
The Region held public information sessions in May 2019 and in April 2021, when it presented preferred recommendations for the three roads. Detailed design was scheduled to start in 2025 and construction in 2027, according to timelines published.
Williamson said the idea of converting a small section of the main street into a pedestrian mall came out of “left field” and there has been no evidence offered to suggest how it would be successful.
He said one of the primary objectives of the project was to improve active transportation connectivity but obstructing the flow of traffic on the main route in and out of Port Dalhousie is not doing that.
“It’s doing just the reverse. It will result in a disconnect — the fork in the road that will cause people to have to travel further and add in more hazards for cyclists, pedestrians, emergency vehicle operators.”
Grantham Coun. Bill Phillips said the plan will see people circling the parking lot while two-way traffic goes up and down the road, drivers try to turn in and out of the lot and buses are forced to make 90-degree turns twice.
“That’s going to create traffic chaos and all the while you’re going to have people walking and trying to get across this two-way street up the hill to get to a business. It doesn’t make sense.”
He asked St. Catharines fire Chief Dave Upper what he thought.
Upper said Port Dalhousie’s access in the summertime is “challenging at best” with the current situation. He said if the setup is altered and traffic-calming measures put in place, it would prohibit access even more.
“The challenges we would be facing, of course, would be extended times of response and emergency.”
Phillips said a minute or two extra is the difference between life and death.
“Safety is first and foremost in our mind and this is not a safe situation we’re looking at,” Phillips said, adding he thought the plan was “ludicrous.”
St. Andrew’s Coun. Joe Kushner, attending the meeting via Zoom after having a brain tumour removed three weeks ago, put it simply. “I find this proposal to be asinine.” St. George’s Coun. Mark Stevens said he agreed with most comments but couldn’t vote in favour of
the motion because he hadn’t seen the Region’s plan, which was never presented to council.
Merritton Coun. Greg Miller also said he was uneasy supporting the motion, noting claims the plan increases a risk to safety weren’t supported by the Region’s engineering and consultant reports published online and there wasn’t anyone in attendance who could clarify that or answer questions.
Council voted 9-4 in favour of Garcia’s motion requesting the Region develop a new reconstruction plan for review by city council that will not result in the loss of any current parking spaces, retains one-way streets and addresses all other issues identified.
Four delegates from Port Dalhousie spoke in favour of the motion.
Mike Burgess, owner of Twisted Pig at the corner of Lock Street and Lakeport Road, told council there are already problems with lack of parking in the area. He said he has staff who end up being 10 to 15 minutes late because they can’t find spots and regular customers who won’t come in the summer because they don’t want to deal with parking.
“We’re coming up on our fourth summer in Port Dalhousie. And the two biggest issues we have in the summer, and sometimes in the winter, are traffic flow and parking. This plan would be detrimental to both.”
Resident Michael Welsh said the loss of parking spaces in the commercial area would also have a negative impact on residential streets and put additional pressure on Lakeside Park.
“Creating a mini pedestrian mall where it has no business being is an entirely unserious proposal, which will result in all kinds of unfortunate and unintended negative consequences,” he said.
Creating a pedestrian mall would be an “absolute death sentence” for retailers in Port Dalhousie, said resident Salvatore Baio, a lifetime retailer and founder of the West 49 chain. He said 90 per cent of pedestrian malls have failed in the United States.
“I think it’s a great idea to send it back to the Region and have them think, and think creatively.”
Resident Marty Mako said the plan is a “massive change” for the area and he would have liked to see more proactive community engagement to ensure both the resident and business owner perspective was heard during the planning phases.
He said he’s supportive of making Port Dalhousie a more walkable, bikeable, active living community, but it has to be done safely and the “details matter.”
“It’s not always that the Port Dalhousie residential and business community get along, so the fact that we’re in unanimous support on this should say something,” Mako said.
Council also agreed 12-1 to reiterate a motion passed in November 2021 urging the region to work with utility companies to consider burying lines as part of the reconstruction within the heritage district to help beautify and preserve what’s left of the tree canopy. It also requested the Region consider installing heritage-appropriate lighting on reconstructed streets.
‘‘ We need to protect Port Dalhousie and our businesses.
CARLOS GARCIA COUNCILLOR