Residents of Bonnyville are tired of the parking situation at the Bonnyville Covenant Healthcare Centre.
As it stands, parking at the healthcare centre is hard to come by. Any spots that become available are snatched up quickly, because of how busy the hospital is.
Construction of the clinic beside the hospital has reduced the number of parking stalls available in the parking lot. This has caused a higher number of people to park along Lakeshore Dr. as an alternative.
“With the clinic being reconstructed, all of the parking has come this way. Sometimes you're driving five to 10 minutes just looking for a spot and still not finding one,” said Nicole Fountain, clerk for the healthcare centre.
Sometimes, visitors who can't find a spot take it upon themselves to make one. Fountain often sees cars parked where there are no lines, which only lessens available space.
“There are people parking where they aren't supposed to be all the time. It makes the lane so narrow. I've had someone take my mirror off trying to exit the parking lot, it's just too small,” she said.
After receiving complaints about the parking situation, Town of Bonnyville council addressed concerns during their regular meeting July 11.
According to Mayor Gene Sobolewski, the issue stems from the setup of the lot, and not the size.
“The way that lot is configured right now, it's an absolute waste of space,” he said. “We're going to get our engineers to do a desktop analysis on this. We want to see how much more room we have to reconfigure within the footprint of the parking lot.”
Council will use the results to determine the best course of action for the current lot. While everyone involved wants to see a solution, Sobolewski stressed it has to be the right one.
He hopes a possible partnership with the MD of Bonnyville and Alberta Health Services (AHS) could provide just that.
“We might have to look at a few options. Maybe the town and the MD co-sponsor construction work. Another option is the town undertakes an obligation to maintain the lot if AHS pays for the capital. We need to find something to move this forward and at least get a proposal tabled,” explained Sobolewski.
For now the future status of the parking lot remains up in the air. Discussions are preliminary, and it could be a long time before changes are made.
It's a problem council is happy to deal with if it means the healthcare system in Bonnyville is top-notch.
“We've even seen an unprecedented amount of people parking right on Lakeshore Dr. It's really a testament to how well the doctors, and the healthcare centre are doing,” said Sobolewski.
