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"It has affected my sales because customers are sayâ€" ing they‘re having trouble getting parking. If they can‘t see a parking spot, they‘ll just keep on going," said Weber, who presented an Marion Weber, the owner of The Paper Tree, told Waterloo city council that her 21â€"yearâ€"old uptown store is already being impacted by. the shortage of parking spaces in the core. r [1he idea of building a public square in Waterloo Town Square‘s King Street parking lot continues to be met with opposition from some uptown business owners. Publicâ€"square options will be narrowed down this fall By Jennirer Ormston For The Chronicle Under the previous lot scheme, there were 648 parking spaces at the mall. Now there are 711. Sixtyâ€"six eSuit It is always a topical issue in uptown and downtown areas, he said. "There‘s always a sense there‘s not enough." Parking is an important consideration in the publicâ€" square debate, said Glen Scheels, of 6SP Group, the company that prepared the discussion paper presented to council on Monday night. Instead, she would like the city to retain as many spaces as possible at Waterâ€" loo Town Square and put the public square elsewhere. 11â€"page petition to council against the square being at the mall. CITY NEWS Some of the delegates, including Weber, said this A parking study on how people are using the space has been initiated, and a series of recommendations is expected to come forward in March. * To Coun. Gary Kieswetâ€" ter‘s concern that handiâ€" capped parking spots would be lost, Scheels said they would be replaced in anothâ€" er convenient location. So if the King Street lot was redeveloped for another use, like a public square, there would be a loss of only three parking spaces, Scheels said. of those are in the King Street lot. Continued on page 5 That area includes the University of Waterloo and the Research and Technoloâ€" gy Park. The 1.7â€"km CNR sewer line services a l§rge area that runs from Waterloo Park to the area of Columbia, Phillip and Lester streets, and up to Bearinger Road. "The Region of Waterloo owns the rightâ€"ofâ€"way (track) and they don‘t want us to do anything that‘s going to encumber any of their future plans, primarily in the area of lightâ€"rail tranâ€" sit or whatever the case will be," Garibaldi explained. "That left us with no alternative than to remove some trees." said But _ Bill _ Garibaldi explained these measures will make more sense in the future than they do now: Garibaldi, of the city‘s public works department, addressed the issue last week after some residents around Waterloo Park comâ€" plained the $3â€"million upgrade of the nearby CNR sanitary sewer trunk has resylted in the removal of about 100 individual trees from Waterloo Park to the University of Waterloo, as well as more in an area woodlot. Garibalgi said many citiâ€" zens are asking why the city can‘t enlarge the sewer line under the former CNR railâ€" road tracks instead of sacriâ€" ficing trees. emoving mature trees Rm upgmdc‘om- of Waterloo‘s main sewer lines looks like a bad idea on the surface, says one city official. Tree removal is a must due to future needs, says city official The answer is simple, he By Anorea Baney Chronicle Staff One resident, Mike Hudâ€" son, said the city could have done a much better job of letting the public know the impact the upgrade would "If people more, they‘re us or come house." "When we put the notices in the paper, we can only describe the project and show its route," Garibalâ€" di explained, adding that every detail of the project can‘t be included in the notice. That process was again advertised in local newspaâ€" pers in January 2006, he said. Garibaldi said the city decided to redo the public process given it had been a few years since the first conâ€" sultation took place. â€" The project was set to proceed in 2003, but was then stalled until late 2005. accommodate all the new development upstream. At that time, the city con ducted a full public process, which included two public meetings that were adverâ€" tised in local newspapers, Garibaldi said. city‘s agenda since 2000 when an improvement was deemed â€" necessary t Garibaldi explained the upgrade project, which will increase the diameter of the sewer piping from 300 mm to 600 mm, has been on the "We are very constrained in our working areas."" â€"Bill Garibaldi City of Waterloo want to know invited to call to the open Lo "I can‘t replace a 40â€"yearâ€" old tree with a 40â€"yearâ€"old tree, but our staff will do our best to buy quality replaceâ€" ment trees that are indigeâ€" nous to the area." "That means we have to cut down trees," he added. But there is some good news, Garibaldi stressed, "The city has set aside $10,000 to replace the indiâ€" vidual trees that we cut down," he said, adding the woodlot is expected to regenerate on its own. But the university doesn‘t want the city to do anything that‘s going to hinder any possible development opportunities in the future, Garibaldi said. "There you have the buildings, the road, the trees and then the sewer line," Garibaldi said. "Again, it looks like it would make the most sense to build under the road." "The region doesn‘t want us to do anything that‘s going to cause interruption." The same goes for the part of the upgrade that runs past the University of Waterâ€" loo, he said. in our said. "We‘re not just tglking about one random tree on some random street here Thiy is WaterIoo Park â€" a lot of people go there." Garibaldi said the resiâ€" dents‘ concerns are unfortuâ€" nate â€" but not unexpected. "We are very constrained in our working areas," he "And they should say in those notices if the sewage work they‘re planning will take out an cightâ€"metre swath of trees through the park. have on the park‘s trees. "There should have been notices put up around the park or something," he said. Sales Representative in Kâ€"W For Over 15 Years 519â€"885â€"0200 Karin Barthel