An Okotoks senior said parking at the Arts and Learning Campus has resulted in her substantially decreasing use of the service.
Dot Ruse has lived in town with her husband since 2006. An avid reader, former teacher and librarian, she said she would make trips to the library two to three times per week to stock up on fiction novels.
When the Arts and Learning Campus replaced the old Okotoks Library in August 2021, Ruse said her use began to slowly decline. Not because her love for reading had stopped, but because she said she couldn't bear to deal with parking.
"The parking out front is really not satisfactory, period," she said in an April 27 interview.
On April 23, Ruse took to a community Facebook page to share her grievances, something she said she rarely does.
"As a senior I used the Okotoks library a lot," she wrote to the group of more than 4,400 users. "Since the new library opened we tend to use it only if we have an item on hold to pick up."
Ruse went on to describe she and her husband's challenges finding a spot in the lot west of the building - on the old Creamery site - and walking the distance from the lot to the front door if they are lucky enough to find a spot.
Most often she said one of them will park in the 15 minute loading zone space and wait for the other to go and pick up what they've put on hold. If one of those spots are not available, the driver will peruse the streets until the other comes out. The couple does not have a handicap permit.
Apart from the parking lot west of the library, near the Okotoks United Church, there are spaces available directly in front of the building, but with parameters. The Wheel counted four family parking spots, four electric vehicle spots, five handicap spots, five carpool spots and two 15-minute loading spots, for a total of 20 parking spaces.
Further down the street, in front of the old library, which now houses Bow Valley College, there are five spaces with no designation.
Environment and sustainability co-ordinator Jeff Greene said the identification of each of the 20 spots was determined by a few factors.
One of which, is building code, which directs that handicap spaces be available within a certain distance of an entrance.
The other, was the decision by the previous Town Council to pursue a gold LEED certification, which requires the attainment of 60-79 points on an environmental and sustainability scale.
"The decision was a consequence of Council's decision to have the new Arts and Learning Campus rated as LEED gold, which stands for leadership for environmental and energy design," explained Greene. "So it's a rating system that supports anybody looking to build structures that take into account the environment and energy challenges that we currently are facing.
"So part of that rating system is it having to have so much electric vehicle charging, commuter parking, things like that. So, you're essentially demonstrating that there's priority being given to those that have multiple occupancy vehicles or electric vehicles as opposed to single occupant vehicles."
A frequently asked questions document posted to the Town website and dated October 2021, indicates the old Creamery site parking lot has 81 spaces. The property at 31 Riverside Drive is expected to provided an additional 40-50 spaces, according to that same document. That expansion was originally planned to be completed last fall but unforeseen circumstances caused a delay, the Town said.
Greene said the reason the project was not completed in October was because winter and snow were nearing, which would ultimately increase the cost of the project.
"The reality is that we would have likely ended up having to pay more to get the work done because it was getting so close to winter freeze," he said. "So we postponed it and we've gone out to tender now, so we'll be seeing who bids on it and awarding it out in very short order."
Greene said he is aware of concerns from residents surrounding parking in Okotoks and at the facility specifically.
"Parking is a function of the size and square footage of any facility," he said, adding that there were "multiple opportunities for public engagement" on the project, but not specific to parking.
He said the addition of the new parking spaces will not only increase the amount of parking available overall, but also decrease the distance to the entrance.
