FARGO - New parking ramps are being proposed at two downtown sites by city staff, each large enough to accommodate 400 vehicles, and office and residential space.
Mike Williams, a city commissioner and chairman of the Parking Commission, said commissioners will vote on those sites Monday. If they agree, he said, the city would be able to search for private-sector partners and issue bonds.
One site is on Broadway where Schumacher Goodyear is now and the other is made up of several parking lots near the post office on Second Avenue North. The sites were among seven in downtown that consultants looked at earlier this year. The Schumacher site showed the most potential for redevelopment, they said, but the Second Avenue site showed the least. At the time, consultants only considered Second Avenue lots owned by the city, which were too small; city plans now include private lots as well.
The city estimates it would have to pay $8 million to $10 million for each ramp, which doesn't include any private-sector buildings attached to the ramps. It also estimates the value of potential private-sector development at $20 million for the Schumacher site and $30 million for the Second Avenue site.
Parking dilemma
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Parking ramps are a solution to the shortage of parking in downtown, but city officials also say ramps could undermine the very thing that has driven downtown growth: its walkability.
According to Williams, parking ramps tend to discourage pedestrian traffic because they are destinations for cars, not pedestrians. Ramps typically feature long walls or railings at ground level rather than stores or offices. By having ramps attached to the backside of buildings with mixed commercial and residential uses, the city could make room for more cars without sacrificing walkability.
The city plan works like this. The city itself would finance the parking ramps with bonds. More parking would encourage private developers to construct the mixed-use buildings on adjacent land, which now serve as parking lots. This would increase the taxable value of that land and help pay for the bonds, a maneuver called tax-increment financing, or TIF. City staff estimates that over the 25-year life of a TIF district, the two sites could generate $7.5 million.
Private companies own the Schumacher site and three of five lots on the Second Avenue site - the other two are city-owned - which means the city would have to buy and swap land.
While city staff say it's too early for any site plans, consultants did provide potential plans in April. The Schumacher site includes a building facing Broadway and one on Fifth Avenue North, just east of the old Hotel Bison. The Second Avenue site includes a building on Roberts Street and commercial space on the ground floor of the ramp facing Second Avenue. The tax-increment-financing district there encompasses parking lots to the north and across the street to the south, meaning the city believes developers will build on those as well.
