How Andre Riopel wang-chunged the zoning bylaw

In his latest triumph over the infernal automobile, Andre Riopel dolphin-hopped over the City's zoning bylaw this week, persuading City councillors to approve his bicycle-oriented commercial plaza on Old Goulais Bay Road with just half the recommended parking.

"I want to make a difference and that was critical because it was symbolic," said Riopel, president of the Sault Cycling Club and self-proclaimed human-powered vehicle activist. "I'm really happy that there were some people there who understood what I was trying to do here."

Our photo shows Riopel after Monday's City Council meeting getting chummy with Ward 1 Councillor James Caicco, who argued that relaxing the parking requirements for Riopel would be "irresponsible planning." Riopel wants to reduce motorized traffic in the city.

And his parking lot triumph brings him one step closer to changing the face of Sault Ste. Marie.

It took a lengthy, complicated and sometimes heated debate to persuade Council to grant Riopel a significant reduction in the standard parking requirements.

My business does not require this amount of parking

"It is critical that I get an exemption to the parking requirements for the success of my business, which does not require this amount of parking," Riopel told Council. Seven councillors voted in favour of changing zoning on the lot from single, semi-detached residential and light industrial to general business.

This change was requested by Riopel to allow him to build a multiple unit commercial plaza, a cyclist/pedestrian campground and a bicycle frame manufacturing facility with only two parking spots per 1,000 square feet floor-space of buildings on the lot.

In a move that Ward 1 Councillor James Caicco described as irresponsible planning, Ward 6 Councillor Jason Collins and Ward 5 Councillor Debbie Amaroso moved to amend the motion, allowing Riopel to reduce parking from four spots per 1,000 square feet of building floor space to two.

'I'm not willing to throw out the rules,' Caicco says

"I'm willing to bend the rules, I'm not willing to throw out the rules," said Caicco. "You're opening up this site under the most types of uses under our available kinds of zoning bylaws."

Outside Council Chambers, Caicco told SooToday.com that the decision could set a dangerous precedent, paving the way for less scrupulous business owners to save a few dollars and put the public at risk when they have to park on the street.

"I didn't want to tie it to a number without the planning department and the applicant getting together to see what would be responsible planning," said Caicco. "But I support his vision and now it's over and it's the will of Council so I wish him [Riopel} luck."

During the debate, Mayor Rowswell suggested Riopel be allowed to create overflow parking spots along the long driveway planned for the property.

But Riopel was not satisfied with this suggestion.

No rezoning, no business

"If I cannot get this property rezoned with a reduced parking requirement, I will not buy it and my business will not open," said Riopel.

Another suggestion would have seen the property zoned with parking specific to use as a bike/pedestrian park and bike shop, but Riopel said this would tie his hands too much for future development.

"What if I want to put a healthy food restaurant or market in there some time down the road," said Riopel. "People who ride bikes go grocery shopping and eat in restaurants, too. You can do anything without a car in this city."

'They can do everything without a car'

"The way we design our city does not have to be so car-centric," Riopel told SooToday.com after his presentation to Council.

"This is not novel, this is not going to destroy our city, quite the opposite" said Riopel. "Right now some people are stuck. It's like 'if I don't have a place to park my car, I can't go there,' they think, but really, they can do everything without a car."

During the meeting, Riopel talked about Ontario's Smart Growth Policy that he said is aimed at controlling urban spread.

"The Smart Growth mandate will allow businesses to convert parking lots into green spaces to the tune of one or two parking spaces per 1,000 feet of building space," he said, "This would not only make economic sense but would help us move toward our commitment to the Kyoto Accord and a greener environment."

Jason Collins recommends support

The turning point in council's debate came when Councillor Collins commended Riopel and his vision for a greener city and suggested that council support his application to rezone with reduced parking.

"I'm sitting here listening to what Andre is saying and I think he is kind of struggling not because Council is right, he's struggling because we're not getting the point," said Collins. "The point is that he is not going to target people with cars."

"He's saying, 'let me take a chance on this. I'm going to target people with bicycles. I'm going to do something completely, radically different than you've ever seen'," Collins told Council. "And we keep saying, 'but you need to have people with cars'."

"We're just not used to this kind of radical thinking," said Collins.

"I'm going to say that if there was one person in this community that you're going to rally behind with a crazy idea without exception, I'd say it would be this man with this plan," Collins said. "I'm saying that we as a council need to give this a chance." Amaroso picked up the passion of Collins' arguments and proposed that the application to rezone go forward with half the recommended parking spots.