Jonathan Galgay wants reserved courthouse parking made public

There may soon be more metered parking available to the public in downtown St. John's. 

Coun. Jonathan Galgay wants to free up existing parking spaces in front of the Supreme Court building on Duckworth Street. 

In an interview with The St. John's Morning Show, Galgay estimated that approximately 20 to 25 parking spaces are exclusively reserved for judges and Supreme Court staff.

According to Galgay, it's part of an existing agreement between the province and the City of St. John's, whereby the province pays for parking at a fraction of the metered price.

Galgay said allowing downtown patrons to park in the area around the Supreme Court building would solve two major issues.

"One, [it would be] providing opportunity for residents and visitors to park in the downtown, and it also brings in increased revenue to the City of St. John's if there's meters," Galgay said.

Regardless of what council decides to do with the proposal, Galgay said a review will be done to determine how much the province is paying the city for the space.

"There was a parking study commissioned a number of years ago," said Galgay.  

"And it was a recommendation to bring meters back into the downtown in that specific area but [the city] deferred the decision to implement until the justice department did a review of the court facilities — and that was a number of years ago," he said.  

Galgay suggested government instead reserve parking spaces in one of the new parking garages across the street. 

"Spirit of Newfoundland are just around the corner and any of us who have gone to see a show there oftentimes struggle to get parking spaces — and ensuring that people have an opportunity is the primary goal in this request," Galgay said.