After almost two months of discussion and research, the clock is ticking on a proposal for a downtown parking garage to address what some consider a need.
The proposal, which would include the purchase of two pieces of property on West McCarty Street between Washington and Jefferson streets along with the construction of a four-level parking garage, has been on the council's informal agenda since the April 19 meeting.
If action isn't taken by the June 21 meeting, the resolution would die.
Some are questioning whether now is the right time for the $13.1 million project, which would be financed through the parking fund.
What are people saying?
When it was originally proposed in April, Ward 5 Councilman Jon Hensley pointed out stormwater and pothole needs around the city.
He asked whether the parking fund could be used to address other public works issues.
From a legal standpoint, City Attorney Ryan Moehlman said at the April meeting that those funds could be used for things other than parking, but it has been traditionally saved for parking-related uses.
"I think we should look into finding other alternatives for the really pressing problems around town that have to do with roads and stormwater," Hensley said. "Perhaps looking into the parking fund as a source because you're saying there's several million dollars sitting in there."
The parking fund has approximately $5.1 million from monthly leased spaces, hourly meters and parking fines.
Hensley also questioned whether there's enough demand for downtown parking to warrant building a garage now along with why the city would buy property rather than build one on a lot it already owns.
"I don't really understand entirely why one site is $938,000 better than a site we already own across the street," he said. "And that's before we clear that building so we'll be over a million dollars into that spot before a stick is built vertically there."
The proposal includes the purchase of 124 W. McCarty St., which is owned by Central Bank, for $350,000 and 101 W. Wall Way, which is owned by Jefferson Street LLC for $582,668. The first is currently a parking lot and the second houses a warehouse, which would need to be torn down before building a parking garage.
It also includes $5,332 for closing costs and other miscellaneous fees.
The city does run a parking lot across the street at McCarty and Broadway streets, which is a block over.
Britt Smith, operation division director, said building a parking garage in the McCarty and Broadway lot wouldn't address the need, and he'd be concerned about filling the spaces. Basically, the goal would be for a new parking garage to make it easier for people to walk up the hill heading toward the Capitol, so building one at the bottom of the hill wouldn't do that, he said.
"Currently, there's around 300 spaces in that lot," he said. "We have openings of 50 to 60 spaces in there. If it was meeting the needs of the customers, I don't think I would have that availability. So, we can't fill that lot. If I make more spots there, I don't think I'll be able to fill them it does not have direct access to High Street, which is what we're trying to accomplish."
The West McCarty garage does have its supporters.
Most of the members of the public who attended a work session two weeks ago spoke in support of the project. Others also sent in letters of support for the project.
Jay Burchfield, managing member of the Wymore Place which is next to the proposed parking garage, wrote the property maintains an average demand of 25 spaces and would support the building of a parking garage.
Ann Slay, with American Shoe Store which is down the street, wrote in to say the project is vital to the survival of small businesses downtown.
Diane Gillespie, executive director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Missouri River Regional Library Director Claudia Cook as well as the Downtown Jefferson City board also wrote letters of support for the project.
Jeff Davidson, chairman for the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce, encouraged chamber members to look into the project and reach out to the council about it.
"The Chamber believes a vibrant central business district is important to our economic vitality and we hope the City will continue to explore opportunities to enhance the parking situation," he wrote.
At the work session, Jack Deeken said he'd originally come to the meeting in opposition to the project because of its location and concern it would be strictly an uptown service for retail.
"But if it's being sold as an asset for the state, for the parking they need, if it's gonna be self-funding, I can definitely see discussion on it," he said. "I mean, I'm not gonna say I'm for or against it. If the location is for the uptown business district hoping to grow, that's not going to happen."
What do the studies show?
A second downtown parking garage has been a topic of discussion for decades.
A 1999 study explored the parking needs downtown. An update to the study was conducted in 2017.
At the conclusion of both studies, the conclusion was that additional parking is needed downtown. Both indicated a deficit in downtown parking, especially to the west of the Capitol Building, which is mostly state offices.
The west side looked at Jefferson Street to Bolivar Street and the updated study found a deficit of 1,972 spaces, mostly in the block of the Harry S. Truman State Building. However, many of the blocks around the building were found to have more spaces than needed.
Meanwhile, the east side went from Broadway Street to Jackson Street and saw a deficit of 592 spaces, but those were more spread out between blocks. The proposed garage location did not log as a block with a high deficit, but the Capitol building to the north and several blocks to the east did.
In total, for both sides, the study found a deficit of 1,545, since both sides accounted for two blocks that include the Capitol building and south to the Rex M. Whitton Expressway.
In 2019, the city studied five downtown sites on the east side to gauge where the best location might be for a future garage. The McCarty site was among the five sites and deemed one of the two most desirable. The other was a block over on East McCarty Street between Jefferson and Madison streets.
Smith said the city wants to focus on the section east of the Capitol building because the project isn't focused just on parking for state employees.
"It is not incumbent upon us to try to fix the state's parking issue," he said. "Conversely, we benefit from visitors to the Capitol. We're trying to focus on the visitors and the customers to our downtown, which is (east). The visitors to the Capitol are the lobbyists, somebody wanting to come and talk to the Legislature, the school group coming to visit it's not the employee of the state, it's the person doing business with the state."
Both studies cite a goal for the city to own 50 percent of downtown parking. If the second parking garage were to be built, the city would own 44 percent.
How much need for parking is there?
The McCarty Street parking garage wouldn't address the full deficit identified in the 2017 parking study, but Public Works Director Matt Morasch would consider it a major step.
According to the study, Downtown Jefferson City is short almost 600 spaces with peak activity in March, April and May when the Legislature is in session.
The new garage would have a net gain of 310 spaces.
"That's a pretty good bite if you have 50 percent of it," Morasch said.
The parking garage's target would be the people doing business downtown, whether that's at the Capitol Building or businesses.
"The primary customer base is the business, the sub downtown retail, restaurant, offices, legal, banking, lobbyists residential, visitors - which that's highly correlated to the legislative activity," he said. "If you're just a casual visitor of downtown, you're going to find a place in front of the restaurant or coffee shop you want to go to, more than likely."
Morasch projects roughly 50 percent of the new spaces could already be sold if it was there. The two main sources of that are employees of Central Bank, which owns the current West McCarty Street lot where the second garage would be built, and the waiting list for the Jefferson Street parking deck.
Smith said the parking deck's waiting list currently has 87 people on it. Another city lot has 23 people on its waiting list for 110 total spaces accounted for.
If the second garage is built, Morasch said, some people will likely switch garages based on proximity to where they need to go downtown.
Smith said the current garage has 408 monthly customers out of the 540 spaces in the garage. The rest are allotted for hourly customers. It does not currently have a waiting list.
How would the proposed garage be financed?
The parking fund, which has traditionally only been used for parking-related projects, has an estimated $5.1 million.
While that's more than a third of the projected cost for a new parking garage, it still leaves more than $8 million of the $13.17 million to be accounted for.
The city will need additional financing for the project, but Morasch said it isn't a risky move in his mind.
The construction and operation of the garage will cost an estimated $275,000 annually from the parking funding, according to Morasch.
Over the last 15 years, he said, the parking fund has generated an average of $340,000 annually. In 2019, the fund brought in $420,000.
These funds come from monthly leased spaces, hourly meters and parking fines.
"That falls well within the $275,000 (it would cost to finance the second garage)," Morasch said. "So it's very fiscally sound. It's not risky, in my mind. People can debate that comment, but I'm an engineer by trade, and we're kind of risk-averse types."
This would be similar, Morasch said, to how the city financed the current parking garage, which was paid off in 2005.
Those revenue estimates, he said, don't consider new revenue that would come from parking fees charged at the second parking garage.
The 2019 feasibility study suggested the city could offer 306 monthly leased spaces at $80 a month and 77 hourly spots at 75 cents for the first two hours and $1 thereafter.
The study projected annual revenues from the garage of $469,000 in the first year and gradually growing to $657,000 by year 10.
"Our costs are going to go up and our operational costs will have to go up some because there's more lights to turn on and more of everything," Smith said. "But, the fund itself, with modest increases in rates over time, which is what the feasibility study showed, could support the construction."