'Where are you supposed to park?' asks wheelchair user fed up with construction

A wheelchair user says Halifax construction has made it difficult to spend time downtown this summer.

Darrel MacDonald has used a wheelchair for 19 years, after a work-related military accident. He has been driving for the past seven.

When MacDonald started driving again, it was like getting his freedom back, he said.

But the development this summer in downtown Halifax has meant fewer places he can park his accessible van that have enough clearance to get his chair out and are not on steep hills.

"Half of the accessible parking that was once there before is now not there at all. It's gone, so I'm very selective when I do go downtown and the events I go downtown for," MacDonald said.

4 spots lost downtown between 2014 and 2016

According to Halifax's 2016 business district inventory of accessible spaces, downtown Halifax has lost a total of four accessible spaces since 2014 and downtown Dartmouth has lost one. However, Spring Garden Road, north-end Halifax and Quinpool Road have each gained two accessible spots in that time.

Brendan Elliott, speaking for the municipality, said these numbers don't include lots controlled by the Waterfront Development Corporation, such as those torn up during construction for the Queen's Marque. Nor do they include accessible spaces available in lots controlled by the universities or the hospitals.

In 2015, there were more than 50 accessible parking spaces available in downtown Halifax.

Elliott said there may be more spaces that have been temporarily removed for construction but those will be replaced once work is completed.

"We always try to relocate accessible spaces where we can when they need to be removed either temporarily or permanently due to some sort of activity or operational requirements. But sometimes the location makes that difficult," said Elliott in an email.

Waterfront parking problems

Parking headaches have been particularly bad on the waterfront, said MacDonald. In fact, he skipped the Rendez-Vous 2017 Tall Ships Regatta and the Halifax Busker Festival this year as a result.

"I knew the crowd was nuts and traffic-wise, it would be a headache just trying to find parking spots."

Kelly Rose, a spokesperson for the Waterfront Development Corporation, said four to six accessible spots were lost when construction started in the Queen's Landing and Cable Wharf lots. However, Rose said those were added into the mix of the other lots the corporation oversees and a few extra were also added.

MacDonald said at least one of the spots added after the Queen's Landing and Cable Wharf lots were closed was not large enough for his vehicle, which requires three or four metres of clearance to bring his wheelchair out of the van.

Some spaces not big enough

Frustrated with the lack of sufficiently large accessible spaces last month, MacDonald said he gave up and parked in a no parking zone in one of the waterfront lots.

"I actually got a parking ticket last month on the waterfront for parking in a no parking zone — double-wide no parking zone — in a parking [lot] that had no designated parking spots, permanent or temporary, because of all the construction down there," he said.

He took that ticket to parking enforcement, along with his receipt showing he had paid to use the lot and the ticket was cancelled the next day.

"Technically I was in the wrong but when you've got nowheres to park, where are you supposed to park?"