MONROE - A complete engineering evaluation of the downtown parking ramp at 11th Street and 15th Avenue could decide the structure's final fate.
The location was eyed as the perfect spot for a redevelopment project in late 2010, but many citizens clamored for the city to save the parking ramp. The builder promptly moved his site plans for a senior apartment complex three blocks north.
In summer 2011, improving the parking ramp structure made it on the to-do list of the Mayor's Ad Hoc Committee tasked with restructuring city government to ensure financial stability.
On Wednesday, the City of Monroe Common Council voted unanimously to hire Arnold & O'Sheridan, Inc., an engineering consulting firm from Madison, to evaluate the 46-year-old structure at a cost of $14,600. The firm is to prepare plans and specifications for structural repairs and estimate the costs, as well as generate a long term maintenance plan for the parking structure.
According to its request for proposals (RFP), the city wants a detailed study of the entire 224-stall, six-level parking structure to determine whether rehabilitating the structure is feasible or razing the structure and building an at-grade lot would be more economical.
The detailed study will lead to a list of repairs with suggested materials and methods needed to rehabilitate the structure, with cost estimates and priority ratings for each of the projects in the long term maintenance plan.
Projects will include deck and wall repair, stairwell repair, stairwell window replacement, construction joint repair, drainage repairs, lighting upgrades and painting inside and out.
The city noted in its RFP that various deck repairs have been completed throughout the years to repair deterioration from shallow reinforcement, but the upper four decks and some support columns continue to show signs of deterioration. The main expansion joints on the upper two floors also were replaced in 1998.
Eighteen months ago, some council members, business owners and residents criticized the potential loss of the ramp.
Chris Soukup, co-owner of Baumgartner Cheese Store and Tavern, called the parking ramp "a great asset" to his business and noted that residents living above the downtown businesses also use the ramp.
This week, his brother and business partner, Tyler Soukup, said saving the structure should be dependent on the cost to refurbish it.
"We like having it there," he said. "But at some point everything gets too old."
The downtown Business Improvement District (BID) board has kept the parking ramp as an item on its agendas for many months, so as not to lose sight of its status.
Getting an evaluation from an engineering consulting firm is "great news," according to Bob Duxstad, BID board president.
"I hope they find its maintenance well worth the benefits of the ramp," he said. "We already recognize parking on the Square is very limited. The ramp provides a nice option."
Duxstad said the ramp is being underutilized because of its condition, but with better lighting, more security and cleaning up, the ramp would contribute valuable downtown parking space.
"I hope they find it in sound condition and worth keeping," he said.
The ramp's parking spaces represent about 20 percent of the more than 1,000 total spaces in downtown Monroe, available on the Square, one block off the Square and in seven public parking lots.
The city's request for proposal also noted "various outside parties" are interested in the feasibility of adding additional decks or a roof structure. Once the structure has been inspected and tested, the city would like to evaluate those possibilities.
Back in 2010, when citizens gathered at city hall to oppose the proposed senior apartments, Alan Gerber, the city's engineering supervisor, reported three large deck joints were replaced in 2007, but only minor deck repairs had been made since.
By that time, the city council had reduced the parking ramp annual budget to between $10,000 and $15,000. Gerber estimated the city needed to spend $60,000 to $70,000 annually for five years to catch up on maintenance, and then $20,000 annually for general maintenance.
Up until 2008, the annual maintenance budget for the ramp, which included electricity, cleaning and concrete deck repairs, was set at about $20,000 to $50,000. During an effort to cut about $490,000 from the city budget in 2008, when the state set levy limits and the nation's economy was showing signs of struggling, a Finance and Taxation Committee member, Mark Coplien, suggested the downtown parking ramp should be self-sustaining. At that time, a few spaces were permit spots, but most of the ramp offered free parking, unlike the metered spaces on the Square.
All parking meters in the downtown area were removed in the spring of 2009.
The location was eyed as the perfect spot for a redevelopment project in late 2010, but many citizens clamored for the city to save the parking ramp. The builder promptly moved his site plans for a senior apartment complex three blocks north.
In summer 2011, improving the parking ramp structure made it on the to-do list of the Mayor's Ad Hoc Committee tasked with restructuring city government to ensure financial stability.
On Wednesday, the City of Monroe Common Council voted unanimously to hire Arnold & O'Sheridan, Inc., an engineering consulting firm from Madison, to evaluate the 46-year-old structure at a cost of $14,600. The firm is to prepare plans and specifications for structural repairs and estimate the costs, as well as generate a long term maintenance plan for the parking structure.
According to its request for proposals (RFP), the city wants a detailed study of the entire 224-stall, six-level parking structure to determine whether rehabilitating the structure is feasible or razing the structure and building an at-grade lot would be more economical.
The detailed study will lead to a list of repairs with suggested materials and methods needed to rehabilitate the structure, with cost estimates and priority ratings for each of the projects in the long term maintenance plan.
Projects will include deck and wall repair, stairwell repair, stairwell window replacement, construction joint repair, drainage repairs, lighting upgrades and painting inside and out.
The city noted in its RFP that various deck repairs have been completed throughout the years to repair deterioration from shallow reinforcement, but the upper four decks and some support columns continue to show signs of deterioration. The main expansion joints on the upper two floors also were replaced in 1998.
Eighteen months ago, some council members, business owners and residents criticized the potential loss of the ramp.
Chris Soukup, co-owner of Baumgartner Cheese Store and Tavern, called the parking ramp "a great asset" to his business and noted that residents living above the downtown businesses also use the ramp.
This week, his brother and business partner, Tyler Soukup, said saving the structure should be dependent on the cost to refurbish it.
"We like having it there," he said. "But at some point everything gets too old."
The downtown Business Improvement District (BID) board has kept the parking ramp as an item on its agendas for many months, so as not to lose sight of its status.
Getting an evaluation from an engineering consulting firm is "great news," according to Bob Duxstad, BID board president.
"I hope they find its maintenance well worth the benefits of the ramp," he said. "We already recognize parking on the Square is very limited. The ramp provides a nice option."
Duxstad said the ramp is being underutilized because of its condition, but with better lighting, more security and cleaning up, the ramp would contribute valuable downtown parking space.
"I hope they find it in sound condition and worth keeping," he said.
The ramp's parking spaces represent about 20 percent of the more than 1,000 total spaces in downtown Monroe, available on the Square, one block off the Square and in seven public parking lots.
The city's request for proposal also noted "various outside parties" are interested in the feasibility of adding additional decks or a roof structure. Once the structure has been inspected and tested, the city would like to evaluate those possibilities.
Back in 2010, when citizens gathered at city hall to oppose the proposed senior apartments, Alan Gerber, the city's engineering supervisor, reported three large deck joints were replaced in 2007, but only minor deck repairs had been made since.
By that time, the city council had reduced the parking ramp annual budget to between $10,000 and $15,000. Gerber estimated the city needed to spend $60,000 to $70,000 annually for five years to catch up on maintenance, and then $20,000 annually for general maintenance.
Up until 2008, the annual maintenance budget for the ramp, which included electricity, cleaning and concrete deck repairs, was set at about $20,000 to $50,000. During an effort to cut about $490,000 from the city budget in 2008, when the state set levy limits and the nation's economy was showing signs of struggling, a Finance and Taxation Committee member, Mark Coplien, suggested the downtown parking ramp should be self-sustaining. At that time, a few spaces were permit spots, but most of the ramp offered free parking, unlike the metered spaces on the Square.
All parking meters in the downtown area were removed in the spring of 2009.