To the Editor:
“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.” These words have haunted me for the past weeks as I consider the plan for the Ontario Recreation District pool.
The City of Ontario currently requires a significant number of additional parking for the project to move forward. However, this parking requirement threatens to remove a large section of one of the most visible, and widely used, parks in our community to create more pavement that will sit empty most of the time.
Cities across the country are moving away from rigid parking minimums, recognizing that they drive up costs and waste valuable space. Nine cities with populations under 50,000 in Oregon have removed parking minimums. Ashland, Central Point, Gold Hill, Grants Pass, Millersburg, West Linn, Tualatin, King City and Milwaukie have all prioritized smarter land use and community needs over unnecessary asphalt.
The City Council should come up with another solution without the parking minimum and allow the project to focus on what truly matters: providing a vibrant amenity to our city. I urge them to consider this option before we look back and realize what we’ve lost.
“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
David Armstrong, Ontario
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