MONROE - What do to about replacing the downtown parking ramp will come to the forefront of the city's attention in the coming weeks, as aldermen move into the 2014 budgeting process.
Discussion at the Common Council meeting on Tuesday, July 16, led Mayor Bill Ross to request the project "get on the agendas" for aldermen to "hammer out this issue." Future discussions may likely include full council participation.
Alders Chris Beer and Louis Armstrong were strong proponents of the council stepping back into the decision making, after an ad hoc committee spent five months on the issue.
"We can do this - we are capable of doing this," Beer said.
Armstrong said the city has all the answers on parking "in front of us," but added that the question in need of answering was how to fund the new parking project. He recommended the city "start now" to make that funding decision so it is included in the 2014 budget.
But Alder Tom Miller pressed for the city to follow the recommendations of the ad hoc committee to hire an outside firm to do a parking study.
"We could do this, but none of us are experts," he said.
Ross recommended council members attended a Main Street Monroe Design Committee meeting at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 6, at the Monroe Public Library. That committee will be discussing a proposed concept parking lot to replace the current parking ramp.
Ross noted that the minimum cost to tear down the existing structure and replace it with a surface-level parking lot would to cost about $600,000, as estimated in the 2012 engineering evaluation. Removal of structure, including basement walls and footings, and crush on site for backfilling was 75 percent of that cost.
A surface-level parking lot would hold about 70 parking spaces.
In early March, Mayor Bill Ross appointed 14 people, including himself, to an ad hoc committee to look into the issue of repairing or replacing the 46-year-old downtown parking ramp at 11th Street and 15th Avenue. An engineering evaluation in June of 2012 showed the current 224-stall facility needed more than a million dollars in immediate repairs, but also recommended "it may be more cost effective to raze the structure and have a surface parking lot."
The ad hoc committee recommended the city contract for a complete downtown parking study in late June. The Public Safety Committee and the Finance and Taxation Committee, during a joint meeting July 1, struck down that recommendation by a 3-2 vote. Quotes for the study ranged between $20,000 and $55,000.
Discussion at the Common Council meeting on Tuesday, July 16, led Mayor Bill Ross to request the project "get on the agendas" for aldermen to "hammer out this issue." Future discussions may likely include full council participation.
Alders Chris Beer and Louis Armstrong were strong proponents of the council stepping back into the decision making, after an ad hoc committee spent five months on the issue.
"We can do this - we are capable of doing this," Beer said.
Armstrong said the city has all the answers on parking "in front of us," but added that the question in need of answering was how to fund the new parking project. He recommended the city "start now" to make that funding decision so it is included in the 2014 budget.
But Alder Tom Miller pressed for the city to follow the recommendations of the ad hoc committee to hire an outside firm to do a parking study.
"We could do this, but none of us are experts," he said.
Ross recommended council members attended a Main Street Monroe Design Committee meeting at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 6, at the Monroe Public Library. That committee will be discussing a proposed concept parking lot to replace the current parking ramp.
Ross noted that the minimum cost to tear down the existing structure and replace it with a surface-level parking lot would to cost about $600,000, as estimated in the 2012 engineering evaluation. Removal of structure, including basement walls and footings, and crush on site for backfilling was 75 percent of that cost.
A surface-level parking lot would hold about 70 parking spaces.
In early March, Mayor Bill Ross appointed 14 people, including himself, to an ad hoc committee to look into the issue of repairing or replacing the 46-year-old downtown parking ramp at 11th Street and 15th Avenue. An engineering evaluation in June of 2012 showed the current 224-stall facility needed more than a million dollars in immediate repairs, but also recommended "it may be more cost effective to raze the structure and have a surface parking lot."
The ad hoc committee recommended the city contract for a complete downtown parking study in late June. The Public Safety Committee and the Finance and Taxation Committee, during a joint meeting July 1, struck down that recommendation by a 3-2 vote. Quotes for the study ranged between $20,000 and $55,000.