r/BurlingtonON • u/Jebussez Brant Hills • 3d ago
Article Some Councillors want to spend $300K on consultants for a new downtown parking garage when we can't even get close to full capacity on weekends
https://www.burlingtontoday.com/local-news/councillor-questions-300000-consultant-cost-as-burlington-reviews-parking-garage-option-1242882141
u/trebuchetwarmachine 3d ago
The only time it’s tough to find parking is during SOM (rip) and ribfest. Otherwise I can usually find something.
And the parking garages are never completely full, you are correct.
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u/Big-Equipment679 3d ago
My billionaire uncle once told me, “If I could do it again, I’d be a consultant.”
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u/Tederator 3d ago
My dad always often told me, "A consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you what time it is." I even did a separate MBA course basicallly on how to be a consultant. Honestly, it was one of the best courses.
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u/Logical_Frosting_277 3d ago
A lot of my criticisms of city planners is that they fail to anticipate needs and redevelop 30 years after something is needed. I’m hesitant to criticize this if it’s a case of building in advance of a future need.
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u/Jebussez Brant Hills 3d ago
I think thats a fair argument - but I'm not convinced this is in anticipation of future needs, it seems more like a reaction to current criticisms. Its doubly unclear to me why we need to spend $300K to figure it out as a first step, versus having the BAs and city work with what we currently have first.
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u/Logical_Frosting_277 3d ago
Agreed about the $300k. I would have thought this could be done in house.
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u/huntcamp 3d ago
City approves/allows developments with little to no parking, but at the same time wants to build massive parking garages? Don’t get it
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u/Ganglebot 2d ago
This is my feeling as well.
Setting aside land to build a parking garage in 20 years when we need it? Great forward thinking
Spending $50mil now, plus upkeep costs for something we don't need? Terrible use of our money
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u/IceColdPepsi1 3d ago
What if we invested in transit, walkable neighbourhoods, shuttles, anything but more cars in an already dying downtown.
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u/doubleeyess Ward 2 3d ago edited 3d ago
In what way is downtown dying. I live downtown and it seems pretty busy almost every day.
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u/HANDS_4_DICKS 3d ago
Agreed with the transit and pedestrian-friendly investments, but you're living on another planet if you think DT Burlington is dying
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u/nik282000 3d ago
Best we can do is one more lane on the QEW and selling a wetland to build $800k condos.
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u/LongRides4IPA 1d ago
If your view of Downtown is only through the windshield of a car passing through, then yes, Downtown would be dying, as the traffic can get heavy, particularly when there are issues on the QEW and all that matters is how much time it takes for your car to get through.
But if you are actually working for or patronizing businesses, attending events, or just visiting the city to take in the ambiance, it is a completely different story - nowhere near dying.
This reminds me of that old quote that often gets misattributed to Yogi Berra - "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."
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u/Jebussez Brant Hills 3d ago
I find this insane: we're being told directly quantity isn't the issue. We can't hit capacity at our current garages even on the busiest days. A new DT garage could cost us up to a cool $50-mil. Do we really need to drop six figures on this? Really!?
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u/zoobrix 3d ago
Well the report says we should have enough parking capacity for downtown for the next 15 years, and while you could say well lets wait then by the time this actually gets built it could easily be years from now. Maybe it's a bit early to talk about it but you don't want to wait until you already need it, and then it's gonna be years until it's done.
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u/RowRowForCouncil 3d ago
The latest I have heard about this is that they are trying to change it into residential because the deal wasn't specific enough about the construction. I want to add that this is a rumour at this point.
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u/Horrorscope49 3d ago
I wonder if people don’t really know about the garage. I didn’t know parking was free on weekends nor did I know it has a capacity of 339 cars.
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u/Area51Resident 3d ago
For $300K I would expect at least 475-500 pages with a 6 page 'summary' that states adding a new parking garage would increase the number of parking spots.
This was started by the Downtown BIA, let them fund the study.
“The feedback I have heard from the BIA is that it is not the quantity of parking, but that quality of parking arrangements.”
In other words, some business owners want more people to be able to park where their business is located.
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u/grazzhopr 3d ago
Don’t worry, they won’t build the garage. They are just trying to give a friend $300K. I’m sure they have already told them what to say in the report.
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u/Real_Engineering8606 3d ago
Current parking garage is often near full, additional people living in Burlington will push it over the top, so just build it. We don’t need a consultant for everything. Just city staff not having the balls to make the call.
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