Turn downtown parking lots and vacant offices into apartments, mayor proposes

London Mayor Josh Morgan will use his newly-acquired strong-mayor powers to skip months of political wrangling and ask developers for proposals to turn downtown surface parking lots into apartments or other kinds of housing. 

The announcement was one of several focused on housing made by the mayor at the annual state of the city speech, held as a fundraiser for the London Chamber of Commerce. 

"The potential here is massive," Morgan told reporters after his speech. "We can solve two problems with one initiative, and that is increase the parking where we need it and also free up city land for residential development in our downtown, which is key to the vibrancy of the downtown in the long run." 

City council will still have to approve the requests for proposals from developers, but the strong mayor powers allow Morgan to ask city staff to get the ball rolling. 

"Ultimately it will be a net new increase in parking in the downtown and thousands of potential new residences in our core," Morgan said. Any parking lots that is developed would remain city-owned. 

Other housing-related announcements made Thursday: 

The mayor reiterated his support for a massive increase to the police budget, which will require an increase to property taxes. 

"As it stands today, London is not a safe city. In fact, when compared to the 12 biggest cities in Ontario, we are now the third-most dangerous," Morgan said. "We have the second-fewest officers per capita among all single-tier municipalities with a population of at least 100,000 and we have some of the longest response times in the province." 

Chief Thai Truong has asked for $672-million over four years to pay for 189 new positions, improve response times, give officers better equipment and vehicles, and modernize policing technologies.

"Yes, the cost is significant. Yes, it will result in a noticeable, one-time impact on our property tax bill. But the cost of doing nothing, as we've all seen, is greater," Morgan said, who also sits as a member on the Police Services Board.

The city's transit has also been underfunded for decades, Morgan said, to the detriment of all Londoners. 

"We must include investments to modernize and improve our paratransit service. What's happening right now denies people with mobility challenges the opportunity to participate in our economy and our community. It robs them of basic decency. We must do better," he said. 

Earlier this week, long-time London Transit head Kelly Paleczny said the service needs more city money.