Another Farhi Holdings parking lot seeks extension from city
A month after a trio of temporary parking lots near Richmond Row received three-year extensions from city council, Farhi Holdings is now seeking an extension for another lot in the core.
On Monday, the Planning and Environment Committee (PEC) considered a request to extend zoning permission to operate a parking lot at 193 Queens Ave. for three years.
The president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario’s London Chapter, Kelley McKeating, told the PEC that extending surface parking lots in core neighbourhoods shifts development pressure onto heritage buildings.
Committee Chair Phil Squire noted that Farhi Developments was one of several developers who submitted a proposal to city hall to partner in the construction of a public parking garage and mixed-use high rise on the property and a neighbouring city-owned lot.
“There already has been a proposal on that property to develop it, a proposal that was actually stopped by the actions of the city of London,” explained Councillor Squire.
Council put consideration of the parking garage on hold until post-pandemic parking needs can be assessed in the core.
The property began operating as a parking lot in 2007.
The Downtown Parking Strategy determined that the central downtown area has an 81 per cent utilization rate, including the subject property.
Civic administration recommends a three-year extension because, “there is a demonstrated parking shortage in the central (downtown) sub-areas.”
The planning committee voted, 5-1, with Councillor Anna Hopkins opposed, to permit the three-year
extension.
“I would like to encourage the developer to develop here,” added Councillor Anna Hopkins. “This is a place where development can occur.”
Squire says there is a lot to consider before granting parking lot extensions.
“If you are going to have a parking lot, you’re going to have to demonstrate two things: that it’s needed and you are looking to develop it.”
Council will make a final decision on July 6.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.