Quote:
Originally Posted by scooby074
Replacing that parking is a reasonable request.
As we know Halifax has no streetcar, lrt etc. I agree, if there was transit on a regular, well advertised downtown loop, like the #8, but streetcar, going from distant lots to the downtown core, my opinion would change too, and like yours, go from 100% replacement to 45% maybe?, maybe less?
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Ultimately, there should be no surface lots in downtown - they should all have buildings on them (I think we all agree with that idea). I see HRM making incremental shifts forward in understanding the relationship of transportation and land use - but it's not going to happen over night. The 4th ferry will be a huge shift, particularly for the Portland Street Corridor and Eastern Passage Area, I'm waiting to see how the service schedule will change because I think you will see Woodside turn into quite the transit node. That alone, to me, would warrant a reduced replacement rate.
Ultimately, cities didn't get to this level of understanding with transit and land use in a day - it took time and HRM is getting there slowly. What is likely to happen as that understanding grows is that reductions will get put into land use regulations for Transit Oriented Development and so you will see the required number of stalls for the units, commercial and any parking get reduced depending on things like distance to a transit station, stop, etc. Calgary has that now - 10% (which isn't much)...but we've been known to give more if a transportation impact assessment shows that a larger reduction isn't going to be a problem. Also, using Transportation Demand Management techniques (such as condo boards helping to fund transit passes for example) also helps support such reductions.
I want to quickly go back to counterfactual's comments again for one second - something dawned on me when I re-read his comment. Yes, HRM isn't hitting the growth target numbers yet. But keep in mind with the RP - those numbers are intended to be the end goal when the plan expires in 2031. So as years go by, those numbers will be fluid and will change and it's good we're getting a sense of where we are not (not a good start). But keep in mind that with the Regional Centre Plan; I suspect development in that area will get a lot easier once the rules are in place. So the fact that we aren't hitting the target for the RC yet - stay tuned because when the plan gets approved, I suspect it will take off.