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It says in the link you posted above, the following:

The City originally proposed a design competition to secure a consultant for this project but changed course due to COVID-19 and the economic downturn. The alternative procurement process for design services is underway.
God help us
 
^huh?

I was under the impression that they had run the competition and selected a group to move things forward,
The City did not run the competition to its conclusion. And the COVID excuse seems lame in that the competition was initiated after COVID began. The REAL excuse I believe is that no Edmonton companies were selected or even represented in the competition and a hue and cry caused the City to flinch. In fact the group that the City is now dealing with is not even one of the five finalists in the competition. How bush league can you get!
 
No parking lot required thank you kindly. Washrooms and a cafe space, yes, parking lot - no.

One consideration that likely is way behind past is that it could have had 1 level UG that could have been used by all neighbouring businesses but that ship sailed a long time ago.

I would argue that if we want to truly make it a destination in an automobile centric city, that you have to have some degree of parking. People outside of the community are going to want to walk dogs with their friends downtown, people are going to want to come down from 124st to hang out. It's not just for those of us in the immediate vicinity, and if we make it that way, the place runs the risk of becoming sterile. When we really want this site to be able to use to draw and attract people to the core from outside of the core WHILE operating as a backyard for the neighbors. In order to do so, you need to provide accessibility. Just good planning, even if it doesn't seem tasty.
 
I would argue that if we want to truly make it a destination in an automobile centric city, that you have to have some degree of parking. People outside of the community are going to want to walk dogs with their friends downtown, people are going to want to come down from 124st to hang out. It's not just for those of us in the immediate vicinity, and if we make it that way, the place runs the risk of becoming sterile. When we really want this site to be able to use to draw and attract people to the core from outside of the core WHILE operating as a backyard for the neighbors. In order to do so, you need to provide accessibility. Just good planning, even if it doesn't seem tasty.

Downtown does have a lot of parking available already, including underground in Ice District which will only be a 4 block walk. Outside parking has closer options.

Or do you mean free parking?

On the surface it seems funny to buy up a bunch of parking lots to put in..... some new parking lots along with the park.
 
All of our river valley parks have a ton of parking. We don't need parking DT. The transit and bikes lanes, mixed with local residents is enough to activate this park. The opportunity cost is too high to have parking for a central park. There's thousands of stalls already within a 8 minute walk.
 
I would argue that if we want to truly make it a destination in an automobile centric city, that you have to have some degree of parking. People outside of the community are going to want to walk dogs with their friends downtown, people are going to want to come down from 124st to hang out. It's not just for those of us in the immediate vicinity, and if we make it that way, the place runs the risk of becoming sterile. When we really want this site to be able to use to draw and attract people to the core from outside of the core WHILE operating as a backyard for the neighbors. In order to do so, you need to provide accessibility. Just good planning, even if it doesn't seem tasty.
I would agree some degree of parking would actually be helpful. Actually there is street parking currently along 107 St now, which I believe would be eliminated with the closure of that section for the creation of the park.

Personally, I believe a better layout for the park would be just the contiguous block between 106 and 107 streets that has no buildings on it (actually most of the block), without expanding across the street and causing more disruption. I think adding the land south of the alley way would mostly offset the loss of the land on the other side of 106 and 107 streets and would allow the park to extend right to Jasper Ave, which by the way also already has a bus stop right there.
 
I think adding the land south of the alley way would mostly offset the loss of the land on the other side of 106 and 107 streets and would allow the park to extend right to Jasper Ave, which by the way also already has a bus stop right there.
No need for more parking - there is LRT and bus transit literally surrounding the park that people living out of the downtown/midtown area can easily take to reach the Central Park. As stated above there are 8-10,00 stalls within 5 minutes walk. Many of the City parking machines downtown provide the first 30 minutes free - that should be sufficient for the Kens and Karen living in the suburbs to walk through the park. Want more access free? then live downtown/midtown and walk.
 
No need for more parking - there is LRT and bus transit literally surrounding the park that people living out of the downtown/midtown area can easily take to reach the Central Park. As stated above there are 8-10,00 stalls within 5 minutes walk. Many of the City parking machines downtown provide the first 30 minutes free - that should be sufficient for the Kens and Karen living in the suburbs to walk through the park. Want more access free? then live downtown/midtown and walk.
It is existing parking, so I wouldn't call it more parking.
 

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