It’s not just about the parking. It’s about community and place: Declaring the library parking lot surplus could mean a lack of light and space for the library as it responds to its growing neighbourhood.
Assurances from city councillors that the proposed project for the lot that’s on the north side of the library won’t take away parking aren’t addressing the critical issue: Community.
Libraries are no longer just places where we find books. They are places where we connect with people – online, in small groups, in informal settings. They are places where our kids can go after school to a drop-in program, where our toddlers and preschoolers can go for story time and where our seniors can take a seminar on how to cope with technology changes. They are places where we can meet our neighbours and have a coffee while we read the newspaper or a magazine.
And the downtown library is already one of Canada’s busiest, as it serves 250,000 patrons each year. It could face even higher demand from young families, as the Ontario Early Years Centre has moved out of the city core.
And located in the only urban growth centre north of the GTA, the downtown library will face even more demand, as residential condominiums come online and as more new businesses bring employees and customers into the city core.
Yet Barrie council is preparing to begin the process of boxing the library in by selling off what’s known as the library parking lot – located just to the north of the library. It’s the lot where patrons have parked for years, as the H block lot to the west has been monthly parking for those who work downtown.
It should also be noted that Edwin Coupe Park separates the library from the H-block lot. There is no such green space between the library and the library parking lot.
To sell the library parking lot would not only prevent the library having an easy addition to the north, it would also box in and darken the library that was designed to function with lots of natural light with its high ceilings and tall windows. A tall dark wall could be within metres of its large north-facing windows.
Sure, the parking would be replaced, but that’s not what matters. Sure, the city would get a good price for the lot, money that it could use to offset the parkade debt (which is why the city began the parking-lot sell-off study).
But sometimes you need to look beyond money at what really matters: A neighbourhood community where people can connect is worth far more than a bit of debt relief.
