For the past eight years, members of the Elder Citizens Recreation Association (ECRA) have looked across from their 10th Avenue home at an empty lot and thought about what could be.
Specifically, the association has been eyeing a neighbouring Ninth Avenue property for additional parking.
Monday night could be the first forward motion the association has had in their goal to make the lot accessible to their members.
ECRA members have been told that a rezoning application will be introduced to city council March 31, to change 1689 Ninth Ave. from a residential to a minor institutional use. A home used to sit on the land, but the dwelling was torn down around the same time the ECRA building underwent a $1.4 million expansion in 2005.
The seniors' group has leased their 1692 10th Ave. location as well as the Ninth Avenue property from the city since 2005.
Their building currently offers up to 60 parking stalls, but with more than 800 members it's not nearly enough, said ECRA president Dave McGraw.
ECRA provides low-cost, nutritional meals, fellowship and a variety of entertainment, recreational activities and special events for seniors, focusing on their wellbeing.
While the centre may be busy on any given day, popular events such as shows, memorial teas and special meals can drive attendance up to as many as 300 people.
This leaves members parking on the street, some as far away as Eighth Avenue or at Parkwood Place - which can be problematic for those with mobility issues as well as the neighbours who have to put up with all of the extra cars parked on the street.
"And that's our biggest problem, trying to get something closer so they don't have to walk two blocks because they're not going to come here," said McGraw.
"That's what we're finding out a lot."
The group has asked the city to rezone the land to allow for its use as a parking lot for years.
"This is not our first request to develop this piece of land for more parking," said a November 2012 letter from an ECRA executive member to council.
Part of the problem is that once they have enough momentum to get council on their side, a municipal election crops up and they have to start anew, McGraw said.
The effort began again in earnest in the last few weeks.
But getting the land rezoned is only the first stage. A larger hurdle for the group to overcome will be securing the funds to get the lot paved.
Back in 2009, the estimate for paving the lot was $77,000. Due to a 60 per cent increase in the price of asphalt, said McGraw, a new 2014 estimate now sits at $106,000. McGraw said they've been told the space would have to be paved and that a gravel lot wouldn't be acceptable.
Ideally, ECRA would apply for a $30,000 grant from Northern Development Initiative Trust and the city would front the rest of the funds, considering it is municipal property.
But despite that price tag, the space would only afford the seniors' centre with 18 to 21 angle parking spaces.
"Those are dear parking spots," McGraw said, but added "we'll take anything. So 21 would have been better than what we've got now."
When the price tag was $77,000, ECRA was willing to put up the remainder if the city was willing to match the proposed NDIT grant amount. But they can't make up a $46,000 gap.
"It would take us a while to get the $20,000 - we were willing to go that far. But when they're not going to match that, and we're on the hook for the $46,000, there's no way we can do it," McGraw said.
"I know the city is tight as well, but we're even tighter than they are. We'd have to sell a lot of cookies and cakes to make up $46,000."
ECRA is funded by $25 annual memberships, a provincial gaming grant for the wages of its three paid staff and through catering, selling tickets to events, shows and other fundraising efforts.
