A needed new parking lot could soon pop up in Ucluelet’s downtown core.
Ucluelet mayor Dianne St. Jacques told the Westerly News the district has an accepted offer on a roughly 1-acre piece of land behind the former St. Aidan’s on the Hill Church.
The property is listed online for $309,000.
“The District of Ucluelet put in an offer on that property and it has been accepted, subject to us looking and being 100 per cent sure of the feasibility of that property for, primarily, parking,” St. Jacques said.
“It would be a great solution for our downtown parking congestion, so we’re pretty excited about that.”
The lot would be accessed off Cedar Road and pedestrian walkways could serve as arteries towards both Main Street and Peninsula Road, according to St. Jacques who said the district has until October to complete their assessment and, if all checks out, the land would be exchanged in November.
“It could be in place pretty quickly, if everything works out,” she said adding the new parking lot would help with RV’s.
“We’ve all been down in the Village Square where you’ve got motorhomes parallel parked right across our angle parking areas and that kind of thing.”
She said parking downtown has been “a constant challenge” for several years and the new lot would help the area’s shops attract more patrons.
“We have those old established buildings in the village square area that are grandfathered in and they don’t have enough parking, we all recognize that,” she said.
“We’re adding value to those properties by having a parking area there where folks can walk around and we can become more pedestrian friendly around the area. They can just park and wander all afternoon…It will improve business in that downtown core I’m sure.”