The Municipality of Jasper is sticking with the Connaught Drive parking lot as the location for the pop-up business village.
The Patricia Street parking lot had been considered as an alternative location, but nearby residents spoke to council on Tuesday (April 1) about the potential noise concerns and impacts on parking in the area.
Council voted unanimously to stick with the Connaught Drive lot. Couns. Rico Damota, Scott Wilson and Helen Kelleher-Empey were not in attendance.
“People come here in rented vehicles and all kinds of things and need places to put them, and that’s parking that’s being taken away,” said Tim Hovorka. “This is changing the whole downtown area. It’s just wrong, especially when you already have a place in place that was approved earlier.”
The pop-up village, which will give businesses displaced by the Jasper wildfire a place to operate this summer, is expected to launch on May long weekend.
Although the municipality initially eyed the Connaught Street parking lot, adjacent to Hazel Avenue, as a location for the pop-up village, but due to concerns around dust and noise from the train, administration instead proposed using the Patricia Street lot next to the Old Firehall.
Administration also suggested allowing the climbing wall currently located at the Patricia Street lot to stay year-round for three years. This decision will return to council at a future date.
The week prior to Tuesday’s (April 1) meeting, the municipality engaged with stakeholders about the Patricia Street location. Administration noted there was mixed feedback from adjacent neighbourhoods, while most general residents were in support of the location.
Pop-up village participants were generally neutral but emphasized that they would like a decision so they can start planning for the summer.
A survey from the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce showed that Jasper businesses were slightly more in support of the Connaught location, with the main concern being a loss of parking along Patricia Street.
Town planner Lucas Sherwin told council there were specific concerns around increased noise, the lack of washrooms, additional maintenance obligations and how the village might be ugly.
“Now, I will say, overall, administration is confident that we can address these concerns both through good site design [and] operational practices,” Sherwin said. “But we do recognize that there will be some impacts, including potentially noise from air conditioning units and that sort of thing that we can try to mitigate.”
As for the loss of parking, Sherwin said the village would impact parking availability within town regardless of which lot it was placed in, and according to paid parking data, the Connaught Drive lot regularly reaches 90 to 95 per cent occupancy in the summer, whereas the Patricia Street lot rarely gets above 40 per cent.
Henriette Desrosiers, who lives near the Patricia Street lot, supported the pop-up village but noted the lack of washrooms at this lot and how temporary washrooms would come with a host of challenges such as smell and disabled accessibility.
“It’s not a little project,” Desrosiers said. “It’s a big project that has to be done before any of the pop-ups get put out there.”
Doug Albert, managing director of Jasper Source for Sports, emphasized he was not against the pop-up village but preferred the Connaught location.
“Our end of town has less parking,” Albert said. “[Customers] have a parking spot right beside my store, and that’s the benefit of where I am. I feel that taking that away from us over there, it’s a disadvantage to me and to anybody else over there.”
A few delegations spoke in favour of the Patricia Street lot.
Kevin Valdes, who lives in Stone Mountain Village, spoke about how the debris removal was only an inconvenience and advocated for having the pop-up village in the heart of Jasper.
“Regardless of where it’s going to be in town, whether it’s on Patricia or Connaught, you’re going to lose parking,” he said. “That’s the reality.”
Coun. Kathleen Waxer described how she was initially “buoyed and enthusiastic” about the Patricia Street location since she thought it would add vibrancy to the downtown core and enhance the visibility of businesses beyond the parking lot.
“So, I'm very surprised to see the level of concern and disdain for the idea, so that has been something that I’ve had to consider in making my decisions,” Waxer said.
Mayor Richard Ireland highlighted that no one who had come forward was inherently against the pop-up village, and concerns were mainly about where it would go. He also commended the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre for recognizing the need for a pop-up village.
“It is something that will help particularly those businesses which lost brick and mortar recover, but if we do it right, I think it will assist other businesses with their recovery as well,” Ireland said.
