Windsor council votes against considering offer on Pelissier parking garage

The majority of Windsor's city councillors made their position on the troubled Pelissier Street parking garage clear during their meeting Monday night by voting against even considering offers tobuy the parkade.

The troubled parking structure has been a subject of debate for more than a decade with council deciding in November to convert retail space on the ground floor into more parking spots.

• Retail space reverted to parking spots in Pelissier parking garage

• Windsor shop owner struggles with eviction from Pelissier

A recent offer by a group of potential investors, including Windsor-based businessman Mark Boscariol, to buy the city-owned parking structure brought the discussion back to council where Mayor Drew Dilkens abruptly shut it down.

"I'm not interested in selling the garage," he said, describing it as a "strategic asset."

• Pelissier Street parking garage offered up by City of Windsor

The mayor also suggested the bid to buy the parking garage might be a ploy by people getting ready to launch their 2018 election campaign.

Councillor Chris Holt was among the minority who wanted to at least consider the offer and said he was disappointed more of his peers weren't interested in looking at ways to get rid of an asset that consistently coststhe city money.

"For us to not investigate the possibilities of moving forward with that and just looking in to the idea of unloading something that loses money and putting it in a private investors hands, it looked to me to be a no-brainer," he said. "At least let's look into it, let's measure the pros and cons."