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Chairman Tom Merz looked at public input on the parking deck that was collated by city staff following the subcommittee’s last meeting, and pushed the group to begin narrowing down potential options for the aging structure. Using the outline created by City Manager Eric Waara that served previously as a discussion starter for the group, Merz said he believes Options 6 and 7 are the best paths forward.
That means a recommendation will most likely entail pulling the entire parking deck down to be replaced with something new and more efficient, or private development is brought in to help. That would at least somewhat resemble the Veridea option that was on the table last year.
Frank Fiala spoke up as a downtown business owner and warned that a new round of input should be gathered. He said that going the same route as before will yield the same backlash. Member Mike Needham vehemently disagreed.
Member Dan Liebau was the most hesitant to embrace the course suggested. Leaving the deck as is and doing emergency repairs annually were not seen as cost effective. Tearing it down to be replaced by a greenspace was thought to be impractical.
There is a push to address the parking deck in the near future, perhaps ahead of the timeline for a workshop with the National Charrette Institute that is meant to focus on the downtown area as a whole.
