Notice of Study: Downtown Parking Strategies

The Town of Saugeen Shores is conducting a study to develop parking strategies for the downtowns of both Port Elgin and Southampton to address current and future needs.  This work comes from a recommendation in the Town’s 2020 Transportation Master Plan.  The municipality has hired Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited to do this study.

The project will address how the community wants to manage its valuable parking assets by exploring questions, such as: 

• Should the Town expand the supply of parking to address peak demands on summer weekends?
• Are there different ways to manage parking demand and/or supply to avoid or defer the costly construction of new municipal lots?
• Are there innovative ways to improve the parking experience for visitors, customers, and employees in the downtown areas?
• With changes to travel behaviour, what does the future of parking look like and how do we prepare for it?

The Downtown Parking Strategies will assess the nature and extent of parking needs in both downtown areas for on-street locations, as well as public and private lots, and identify actions to improve conditions.

The first phase of the study contains opportunities for community engagement (tentatively from the second week of September to the second week of December 2023), including consulting with businesses, residents, and visitors. The project will also provide a Community Survey to gather information on experiences with parking in the downtown areas.  The Town will provide more information as it becomes available.

Paradigm will also conduct parking inventory field surveys between August 26th and 30th, 2023. This work will involve collecting data on the number of vehicles parked in the downtown areas of Port Elgin and Southampton. This work will not interrupt access to roads and sidewalks.

The Town will collect information in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.  Except for personal information, all comments will become part of the public record.

This project is one of Engineering Services’ Division Highlights as set out in the 2023 Business Plan approved by Council (p. 44).

For more information and/or inclusion on the project mailing list, please contact: