A gesture from a property owner will provide more summer parking in Port Dover.
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Norfolk County council has taken up an offer to lease the property of the former Norfolk Tavern at 200 Main St. for $1 a year. The now empty lot at Main and Clinton streets was the location of the historic tavern and most recently, Gator at the Norfolk. The building was razed last fall.
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At a council meeting on Tuesday, Bill Cridland, general manager of operations, said the county will lease the land this year and, possibly, next year while the owner considers permanent plans for the property.
Cridland said converting it into a parking lot will cost about $9,000, including the addition of granular material, grading, and the installation of signs, pay stations already owned by the county, and parking blocks.
It will become a paid parking lot with a rate of $4 per hour during the paid parking season from June 15 to Sept. 5. From September to Nov. 15, the lot will be available for the public to use at no cost for up to 48 hours. The lot will be closed after Nov. 15.
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“This would mirror the practice in our municipal lots elsewhere and would assist in making more on-street parking available to customers in the central business district,” said a report prepared by Darnell Bernardo, project manager in traffic services.
“With the majority of downtown areas having a two-hour parking limit, this lot will give tourists and residents another parking option where they can pay to park for an extended period of time over the two-hour limit. This is a step in the right direction to help solve the parking issues in the downtown area of Port Dover.”
Cridland estimates the lot will generate a minimum of $25,000 for the county.
“We don’t know how many folks will actually use the lot if there is free parking closer to the beach,” he said. “Staff feel it is reasonable to assume that net incremental revenue will be sufficient to offset the parking lot conversion costs.”
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There was much debate last month about summertime paid parking in Port Dover, with council ultimately approving $4-hour paid parking in municipal lots on Clinton and Harbor streets, and in angled spots on Harbor Street, east of the Port Dover Harbor Museum from June 15 to Sept. 5 from 10 am to 6 pm
Councilors decided against paid parking in the Elmer Lewis lot on Main Street.
Councilors heard from some Port Dover business owners who said the paid parking program – which began as a two-year pilot in 2022 and had motorists pay $4 an hour to park by the beach – had a devastating impact on them. Andrew Schneider, who owns the iconic Erie Beach Hotel and The Arbor, said the parking pilot program was “killing business in the beach area of Port Dover.”
During his two-year paid parking pilot, Norfolk County net about $150,000. County staff had recommended the program become permanent.
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