City parking garage this afternoon. Photos by Jeff Turl.
Well maybe, maybe not.
Sources have confirmed to BayToday that the city's parking garage on McIntyre St. W. is in the final stages of being sold to a private developer.
And a petition is being circulated among downtown merchants to stop the sale, or at least slow it down.
Co-owner of Deegan's Shoe Store Pat Diegel, says she is going to ask for an emergency meeting of the Downtown Improvement Area board tomorrow. She is shown here with her petition.
But Mayor Al McDonald says the garage has not been sold.
"Any sale of lands still needs to happen at a public council meeting. On top of that, any sale needs three readings of a bylaw authorizing any sale at further council meetings." Even that won't happen before city staff compile a report.
"The city looks at everything---all options when it comes to reducing the budget. As a council you review everything."
But the Mayor wouldn't say if he recalls the issue being discussed.
"All I can tell you is, if there is a sale of public land it has to be discussed at open council and it needs council approval."
But sources say everything so far has been done "in-camera", and participants have signed confidentiality agreements. Not unusual when dealing with property matters.
Owner of Stix And Stones Yarn Boutique Rae Brenne says she was shocked that she had to hear of the sale by word of mouth.
"Things like this happen for a reason," Brenne told BayToday. "But I'm sure it was being kept quiet because they would know that there is an uproar that is going to happen.
"We're already fighting a parking issue downtown so having something like this happen is just going to fuel our fire."
She says it would be a mistake to sell the garage.
"There are so many business owners and shoppers that are parking there on a daily basis. We already have enough issues with the parking problems downtown and we don't need another reason to have people decide not to come downtown to shop."
There has been no indication the potential buyer would eliminate parking or demolish the structure, but officials are being tight-lipped.
And selling the asset isn't necessarily a bad thing for a budget strapped council.
The city loses money on its operation, and it's due for a multimillion dollar upgrade in the next few years.
Downtown Improvement Area and councillor-elect Jeff Serran was not available for comment, and attempts to contact Chief Administrative Officer Jerry Knox were unsuccessful.
