I first started working at the Moncton Hospital in 1989. I am newly retired.
For almost the entire time that I have worked there, people have groused and complained about the horrible parking situation, and over the course of nearly 40 years, not a damned thing has been done.
The reasons are multifactorial. A plan had been developed in the 1990s to build a parking garage on the current patient parking lot across from the main hospital entrance, but, the residents on Edgett Avenue were most displeased by the loss of their scenic view over the cracked asphalt of the parking lot and convinced the city to put the kibosh to any plans. On top of this, the provincial government is most disinclined to make the appropriate investment to build a parking structure because if they did so, every other major hospital in the province would expect similar treatment. The result of this of course is massive bureaucratic inertia.
This of course does not deny the need for such a structure, but, if one were ever to be built, it would require out-of-the-box thinking.
The obvious solution would be for the province to lease the land for the parking garage to a private entity to allow for construction to proceed. To prevent the howls of outrage from the other hospitals in the province, there would have to be no government funding of this project. The costs would be recovered by the private entity through parking fees, and through rents charged to anyone leasing space in the commercial podium.
Of course, rezoning would be required, and there may still be some irate citizenry on Edgett to oppose the project. The planning committee and city council would have to ignore these NIMBYs for the public good and allow the rezoning to proceed.
The parking garage would have to be at least three level on top of the commercial podium. A pedway connecting to the main hospital entrance would be mandatory (this would maintain traffic flow on MacBeath, and would be most appreciated by pedestrians in the wintertime and during inclement weather).
The idea of commercial services in the podium should not be a surprise. There have always been commercial services at the Moncton Hospital. The lobby historically has had multiple tenants, including Tim Horton's, the Nurses Alumni Cafe, a gift shop, a florist and even a dress shop. There used to be a Royal Bank branch on the ground level of the Professional Arts Building.
The lobby is getting a refresh after being moribund since the pandemic. The main reason why this has taken so long is intransigence by union activists over private food services in the hospital threatening the jobs of the hospital cafeteria workers (the Tim Horton's was able to escape the union ire because it was actually operated by the nurses alumni). Finally, the impass has been broken, and the lobby will soon feature a Second Cup and a Freshii. Freshii was chosen because it is essentially a healthy vegetarian restaurant, satisfying concerns of the medical staff association, the nurses union and the dieticians. Carnivores at the hospital are less pleased.
As you can see, political concerns over the tenancy of the retail podium of a parking structure could be avoided by making the parking structure a private entity. This could allow competing fast food establishments to set up shop (McDonad's, Tim Horton's etc.). A pharmacy is an obvious choice, If the parking structure were a private entity, this would eliminate any concerns that the hospital or the province were displaying any type of favouritism. As we had previously in the hospital lobby, a florist or a gift shop woulg also be easy choices for the podium. I could easily see 6-8 CRUs in the podium filling up quickly. It should be remembered that a large hospital is almost like a small town. There are nearly 3000 hospital employees, and easily just as many patients and visitors to the hospital every day. This is more than enough people to support the services expected by any small town in the province.
So, for this to be successful, this is what will be required.
- a privately owned and operated parking structure with a commercial podium across from the main entrance to the hospital.
- complete absence of any provincial funding for this project.
- cost recovery entirely through parking fees and commercial rents.
- an above grade walkway leading from the parking structure to the hospital lobby.
- street facing CRUs to house services that would be used by hospital employees and visitors.
- complete buy-in by the city to prevent NIMBYs from blocking this proposal.
A private entity is mandatory to prevent interference and complaints by other hospitals in the province, and also to foil any interference by unions and professional organizations. This could be done. There is a narrow path that would allow for successful implementation.
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