Close a narrow car park in the heart of Groningen: “This will limit the number of cars in the center”

Alderman Philip Broeksma (GroenLinks) is happy to buy, with the garage gone, there will be fewer cars in the center. “We are happy to be able to reduce car traffic downtown. We don’t know yet what we are going to do with the garage.

Groningen City Council does not rule out the possibility of replacing parked cars with homes. “This could be a solution,” says Alderman Roland van der Schaaf (PvdA) of Wenen. It is a complex place to build. It’s right next to the Vismarkt, so you have to be creative. There is no ready-made plan for the garage yet. The space will initially be used as a bicycle parking garage.

The existing garage will in no way be converted into a living garage. The municipality places greater demands on this neighborhood garage. In its current form it is very narrow and very sloping in terms of slopes. Additionally, the municipality must invest the money if it is to become a neighborhood garage. City officials don’t want that.

The city manager assures that the garage will be initially purchased “to better organize traffic”. “We will return the public space to the residents,” van der Schaaf continues. Haddingestraat often has a queue of cars waiting for them to drive to the parking garage. We want to redesign Haddingestraat and Pelserstraat. This is not possible now because of the cars waiting and the cars parked there.

The purchase value is 3.5 million euros. The idea of ​​​​purchasing the property was proposed by the city council. At the time, in 2018, the municipality did not have enough money to make the purchase.