Traverse City Record-Eagle

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June 17, 2010

DDA considers Front Street parking deck

BY ART BUKOWSKI abukowski@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Plans for yet another publicly funded, multi-million dollar downtown parking deck are steaming ahead.

Traverse City's Downtown Development Authority on Friday is set to discuss ongoing plans for a parking deck at 305 West Front, a large lot just north of the 10-story Riverview Terrace housing complex. The deck would complement a proposed mixed-use complex by local developer Jerry Snowden.

If all goes according to plans, the city could issue bonds and break ground on the roughly $8 million deck by spring. Snowden's adjacent project, dubbed "RiverWest," could break ground at about the same time.

The DDA commissioned a series of deck designs several months ago. The deck could include up to 405 spaces if officials chose the largest of three proposals, though acting DDA Director Rob Bacigalupi said officials likely will pursue a smaller, 271-space deck that could be expanded.

Captured tax revenue from Snowden's development could cover more than half the deck's cost, and city officials contend the deck won't happen if Snowden's project doesn't materialize.

Snowden said he's "still in a holding pattern" and waiting to hear of the city's plans before he moves forward.

City voters in 2006 shot down plans for a 500-plus space, $16 million deck only a few hundred yards from where the new deck would stand, but officials contend there remains a desperate need for parking on the west side of town.

"There's something holding development back over there, and the biggest thing is a question of parking," Bacigalupi said. "It's a question developers ask, it's a question developers' banks ask, and it's a question that needs to be answered."

Some prime lots on the west side already are used for parking, and many of those spaces would be eliminated if developers chose to build on the sites.

The structure would be the city's third taxpayer-funded deck, joining the Larry C. Hardy deck on East State Street and a deck under construction in the Old Town neighborhood.

City Commissioner Jim Carruthers was the only commissioner to voice opposition to yet another deck when the commission last discussed the issue. He said he'd rather see the city spend money on improvements.

Snowden and other commissioners countered that many improvements are funded by taxes captured from developments akin to Snowden's proposal.

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