MONROE - Members of the city's Finance and Taxation Committee and the Board of Public Works, meeting jointly Tuesday, agreed it was time to have a professional feasibility study done on the need and desires for a downtown parking ramp.
Members of the public, including board members and executive directors from the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Monroe and the downtown Business Improvement District, assembled in the city hall council chambers to hear the discussion, review a few preliminary building plans and suggest a few ideas of their own.
Repeated counts of vehicles using the ramp, by city officials and other persons in the community, show only about 25 percent of the 230 available parking stalls is being used.
But the Chamber of Commerce executive director, Pam Christopher, said the city shouldn't depend on those counts when making a determination about the construction of a replacement ramp.
"You really can't compare the use of the ramp now to what it could be if it were fixed up," she said.
Christopher said the city should ask how much more people would be willing to use the ramp if it has some basic amenities added, such as security cameras, better lighting and cleanliness.
"It would make for a fair assessment," she added.
According to Al Gerber, the city engineering supervisor, about 26 to 37 percent of three other parking lots around the downtown area are being used. A fourth lot is used more often. But, of the 476 available off-street parking stalls in downtown, about two-thirds are not used.
However, on the high end of usage, about 95 percent of 344 on-street parking stalls around the Square and on adjacent streets are being used.
"Can we tie together parking enforcement with this whole discussion?" asked Ryan Wilson of the Main Street board.
Wilson said that high rate of on-street parking on the Square is a "driving force" behind the need for timed parking and to force employees and store owners to park in the ramp. "It would be as much a benefit for merchants as for customers," he added.
Wilson also pointed out that the city could not get the construction details designed, bid out and the ramp ready in time for Cheese Days, September 2014 - the event's 100th year anniversary.
Christopher asked whether the city could fix the current ramp between now and start of new construction, enough so as to open some stalls currently cordoned off. Gerber said it was possible.
The committee directed Gerber to prepare a request for proposals to do a formal feasibility study, but funding the whole project is still an issue hanging over the city's head.
For lower interest rates, bonding for the ramp construction may best be done in 2014, after bonding for the wastewater treatment plant project has gone through, said Phil Rath, city administrator.
The committee also raised the suggestion that the city could go out for referendum, to see how much money the voters wanted to pay, or it could propose a special assessment.
Tom Miller, a member of the Board of Public Works, said a new ramp will be a long-term project that would take probably 30 years to pay off, and he recommended the city start setting aside money in future budgets to reduce the amount needed to be borrowed.
"Taxpayers will be affected for a long time," he added.
Members of the public, including board members and executive directors from the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Monroe and the downtown Business Improvement District, assembled in the city hall council chambers to hear the discussion, review a few preliminary building plans and suggest a few ideas of their own.
Repeated counts of vehicles using the ramp, by city officials and other persons in the community, show only about 25 percent of the 230 available parking stalls is being used.
But the Chamber of Commerce executive director, Pam Christopher, said the city shouldn't depend on those counts when making a determination about the construction of a replacement ramp.
"You really can't compare the use of the ramp now to what it could be if it were fixed up," she said.
Christopher said the city should ask how much more people would be willing to use the ramp if it has some basic amenities added, such as security cameras, better lighting and cleanliness.
"It would make for a fair assessment," she added.
According to Al Gerber, the city engineering supervisor, about 26 to 37 percent of three other parking lots around the downtown area are being used. A fourth lot is used more often. But, of the 476 available off-street parking stalls in downtown, about two-thirds are not used.
However, on the high end of usage, about 95 percent of 344 on-street parking stalls around the Square and on adjacent streets are being used.
"Can we tie together parking enforcement with this whole discussion?" asked Ryan Wilson of the Main Street board.
Wilson said that high rate of on-street parking on the Square is a "driving force" behind the need for timed parking and to force employees and store owners to park in the ramp. "It would be as much a benefit for merchants as for customers," he added.
Wilson also pointed out that the city could not get the construction details designed, bid out and the ramp ready in time for Cheese Days, September 2014 - the event's 100th year anniversary.
Christopher asked whether the city could fix the current ramp between now and start of new construction, enough so as to open some stalls currently cordoned off. Gerber said it was possible.
The committee directed Gerber to prepare a request for proposals to do a formal feasibility study, but funding the whole project is still an issue hanging over the city's head.
For lower interest rates, bonding for the ramp construction may best be done in 2014, after bonding for the wastewater treatment plant project has gone through, said Phil Rath, city administrator.
The committee also raised the suggestion that the city could go out for referendum, to see how much money the voters wanted to pay, or it could propose a special assessment.
Tom Miller, a member of the Board of Public Works, said a new ramp will be a long-term project that would take probably 30 years to pay off, and he recommended the city start setting aside money in future budgets to reduce the amount needed to be borrowed.
"Taxpayers will be affected for a long time," he added.