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Political will needed to address parking issues- Diane L. Drayton
This was expressed during the first session of the ‘EnVIsion 2040’ meeting which was held Wednesday, July 12, 2017 at Sir Rupert Briercliffe Hall in Road Town.
Ms Drayton commented that if the territory is serious about progression, the problem of parked vehicles occupying important sections of the roadway must be addressed.
“We may have come from a place where people build on roads like in Huntums Ghut and in Lower Estate where people would normally park on the public road. Now, they have decided because we are moving in a certain way of development, we are insisting that people now make accommodation on their land for parking, but we seem to be so far from that and we might not have the political will to make that happen.”
She continued, “It has to be a necessary part of development if we are going to progress forward, that people remove their vehicles from the public road and find parking on their property. Otherwise, could you imagine our tourists are now heading over to our famous sites, but then have to maneuver in a one-way road because somebody has decided –two, three cars- to park on the public road? We have to decide for a progressive society where we are going.”
The Public Relations Officer suggested that, instead of the Virgin Islands (VI) searching for a new plan to fix parking problems, they should examine other societies to see how they deal with it and possibly adopt their plans to better assist the Virgin Islands in that area.
Parking space legislation in place- Gregory W. Adams
Responding to Ms Drayton, Mr Gregory W. Adams, Chief Planner with the Town and Country Planning commented that the ‘EnVIsion 2040’ plan will address the issues of vehicles parking on the roadways as well as adopting the way in which other progressive societies deal with parking issues.
“We are looking around and finding out other similarities in other jurisdictions; study what they have done and see what of it is applicable to our situation, so we could learn from them and not really try to reinvent the wheel as it is. We are taking those kinds of strategies into account,” explained the chief planner.
Posing a question to Mr Adams, a resident asked whether his department has laws in place to ensure there is parking space on building plans submitted for approval.
In response, he said, “Yes, legislation is in place to address those kinds of issues.” However, he did not state whether or not those laws are being enforced.
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