Peterborough is expecting a multimillion-dollar urban park to go in the old Louis Street parking lot but the project has yet to break ground and a lot of people are asking, what is taking so long?

“This street is kind of an up-and-coming street. There’s a lot of really healthy stores coming in, a lot of stores with holistic lifestyle in mind who are serving upper-class residents in Peterborough and I think this parking lot, this space that isn’t a park yet kind of really takes away from the street, it doesn’t make it look like this street is very viable,” said Nadine McCallen who owns the Ritual Apothecary shop across from the lot.

Global News made a number of calls and sent emails to city staff to find out why there’s a delay, but didn’t hear back by our deadline.

The urban park was originally supposed to be completed this winter, but the Downtown Business Improvement Area tells us due to some provincial approval processes — there was a delay. According to DBIA Executive Director, Terry Guiel, the city has plans to include apartments or condo’s next to the park. but that requires a higher level of site approvals, which takes longer.

The urban park will also have public washrooms, a change room, a Zamboni garage, storage, and a small office for a park attendant. There will be seating areas, greenery in the summer, and an ice rink in the winter along with a relocated Wednesday farmers’ market.

“We’ll to continue to be on Charlotte Street, closing down the street between George and what used to be Louis Street. We knew this was the case for this season and all of our customers and vendors seem to really love being on Charlotte Street last year, everyone said it felt sort of like a street party every week,” said Jillian Bishop, manager of the Peterborough Downtown Farmers’ Market.

And that’s just where the farmers’ market will be located on May 1st when the downtown market officially opens.

While we have yet to hear a response from the city of Peterborough, Guiel says construction on this project is expected to start at the end of May or early June.

Source: Read Full Article