At a public meeting Monday night, input from citizens was provided on a zoning-change for a new hospital parking lot.
Application Z09-22 pertains to 46 General Hospital Dr. and 130 Youngs St., as it is known municipally. Residents may recognize it as the green space on the corner of St. Vincent Street South and West Gore Street, next to Stratford General Hospital parking lot.
Brandon Flewwelling, development planning manager at GSP Group, the company which submitted the application on behalf of Stratford General Hospital, clarified that the construction of the parking lot is in anticipation of the needs of the hospital as it reaches capacity.
“Following COVID the hospital is not back up to full capacity,” Flewwelling said. “We might hear comments … that the parking lots aren’t full at all times. I think that’s true now but we’re expecting that in the future, as things get back up to full speed, there’s additional parking demand that’s required.”
Much of the design will be explored in the site planning stage that will follow. For instance, Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach inquired about the sidewalks that the city will be building around that corner and whether this would impact their construction. Taylor Crinclaw, director of infrastructure and development services, clarified that would come up during the site planning stage.
A number of nearby residents attended, including David Campbell and Julio Martinez. Campbell suggested a berm, citing issues with lights and sounds already coming from the parking lot, which he said already already shine into his front window. The proposed new lot would only exasperate those issues, he said.
Martinez agreed and also indicated that he would like to see EV charging stations at the new lot, as the city transitions towards electrification.
John Jones, another nearby resident, cited an issue with the traffic already coming from the parking lot onto Young Street, saying should that continue there will be major problems.
Flewwelling noted again that any traffic impacts would come up during the site planning stage, though earlier in his presentation he noted that there will be no new direct access to the surrounding streets, with the new lot only accessible from existing parking areas.
The proposed parking lot has 89 spaces for hospital staff and drew no concerns from local agencies: the UTRCA, the fire department, Festival Hydro, transit, and the parks department.
