The weather isn’t the only thing that is hot of late, so is the issue of paid parking in Sauble Beach.
The South Bruce Peninsula council chambers was packed for today’s Committee of the Whole meeting where a delegation presented a petition and addressed Council about the issue.
There were members from the business community at the meeting who want the Town reduce or eliminate the 10 dollar flat fee for parking.
One of the speakers was Jeff Lobsinger — Owner of Lobby’s Restaurant in Sauble Beach — who says there are tourists, businesses, and locals who frequent the area who are fed up with having to pay fees to visit places where they are willing to spend their money.
He says his business has seen a 50 percent drop in the number of customers and has witness a substancial decrease in the number of parking and traffic in Sauble Beach.
Lobsinger says this past weekend there were a total of 45 cars in a parking lot that holds over 100.
He says there were very few people on the beach and has never seen anything like it during the time he has been at Sauble Beach.
Another business owner — Robbie Robinson of At the Beach Cottage Rentals — says paid parking is a huge monster that nobody on Council wants to talk about.
He says businesses in the area have seen a decline in customers since the implementation of paid parking in 2005, well before the recent spike in gas prices.
Mayor Gwen Gilbert cut off discussion on the issue after the alotted 10 minutes much to the dismay of those in attendance and Councillor Mark Wunderlich who asked for an extension and was denied.
Gilbert says since they put in paid parking they were able to get new washrooms, hire people to clean and maintain the beach area, and new fire hydrants.
She adds businesses and the Chamber of Commerce asked for the parking fee so as long that it goes back into the community.
Wunderlich says he will be bringing the issue up at next Monday’s Council meeting.
