Skip to content
  1. Home
  2. Letters to the Editor

LETTER: Progression over parking problems urges CACE group

'Utilizing parking capacity as an inhibitor to growth and the development of necessary community services and infrastructure is shortsighted and is the tail wagging the dog,' says arts and entertainment group
Letter to the Editor
2022-05-17-typing-pexels-donatello-trisolino-1375261jpgw960
Donatello Trisolino via Pexels

CollingwoodToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via our website. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is from the Collingwood Arts Culture and Entertainment (CACE) Group in response to a previous letter suggesting there isn't enough parking or room for an arts centre and theatre in downtown Collingwood. 

In response to viewpoints regarding the building of an arts, culture and entertainment centre in downtown Collingwood and its effect on parking, the Town of Collingwood's population is projected to increase to about 41,500 in less than 20 years.

This surge in population will require residential and municipal development that will mean changes and adjustments throughout the community.

The town administrators are acutely aware of parking capacity and how it needs to be addressed as our community expands.

Utilizing parking capacity as an inhibitor to growth and the development of necessary community services and infrastructure is shortsighted and is the tail wagging the dog.

The newly updated Official Plan also addresses the fact that the town must accommodate the anticipated population growth and the inherent needs and wants of the community including parking (although in 20 years, we may have moved to other futuristic vehicular options).

The construction of an arts, culture and entertainment centre is a visionary example of what our downtown needs.

The community and the BIA enthusiastically support the concept. It would add significant economic value to the town, increasing its vibrancy, bringing visitors to the town as well as being the focal point of an already established downtown arts and entertainment community.

The addition of an arts centre does not eliminate parking; parking can be part of the design of the new facility.

Let us not let the tail wag the dog. Our priority should be visionary, pragmatic growth and the evolution of our downtown core ... not its stagnation.

Ann Schiefer
Collingwood Arts Culture and Entertainment (CACE) Group