More than a year after Sarnia decided to gift a downtown parking lot to Lambton County for an affordable housing project, city council is eager to see progress.
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“The urgency of this matter cannot be overstated,” said Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley, about a 267-unit, $76-million, two-building proposal, including supportive housing, eyed for the Victoria Street lot.
Council in July 2023 approved giving the county at least part of the lot for the project, then offered the whole lot in May at the county’s request.
But council also baked in caveats, including that some of the lot, at Victoria and Cromwell streets, be maintained for public parking.
Now, because of insurance concerns related to providing parking at the site, the county wants to take only part of the property, acting Sarnia solicitor Randi Kalar said.
“The county is prepared to work within whatever portion of this parcel of land we will proceed to donate to them,” she said.
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Council 6-3 agreed to rescind its decision from May to give the whole lot, and for city and county staff to work out an agreement for the property, for council’s approval when it next meets Oct. 28.
Coun. Brian White suggested retaining 40 or 50 of the existing parking spaces.
“I believe that if we give them less (of the lot), retain some for parking, they will make it work,” he said.
The property is valuable, said Coun. Chrissy McRoberts.
“I feel like we’ve offered up the golden egg,” she said, adding if progress can’t be made soon, Sarnia should look for another buyer.
“Everybody wants to build, so let’s just get it going,” she said.
Use of the 120-space lot varies, but parking there raises $10,000 a year through permit parking and other fees, Kalar said in a report.
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Retaining about 50 spaces, including 12 allocated to a local business through an agreement, would maintain that revenue, Kalar’s report says.
About half the lot was made free in 2019 to encourage parking there, instead of on city streets.
Coun. Terry Burrell spoke against making the donation.
“It seems to me, for some reason, this council wants to steal all the parking out of the city,” he said, noting complaints about not enough parking downtown from businesses is common.
“Here we are taking one of the few lots we have downtown and selling it off,” he said. “It makes no sense.”
Housing could be built elsewhere in the city, he said.
Coun. George Vandenberg and Coun. Bill Dennis also voted with Burrell against the motion.
A local group, including members of the Rotary Club of Sarnia, proposed the project and asked for the lot, and has been working with the county to make the build happen.
The lot is one of five potential affordable and supportive housing sites identified in a plan county council endorsed in February.
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