City hires firm to study downtown parking sites
Whitefish city council has taken the first step in determining the location and design of a possible downtown parking structure.
Council voted July 16 to give Kimley-Horn and Associates a $97,595 contract to conduct a parking deck and structure feasibility study. Four proposed sites will be evaluated by the firm then narrowed to two sites. Cost estimates and conceptual designs will be given for parking structures based on the two selected sites.
The four sites to be considered include the existing BNSF parking lot north of the O’Shaughnessy Center, the existing City Hall building, the existing surface lot on the corner of Second Street and Spokane Avenue, and the open lot at the southwest corner of Third Street and Central Avenue.
City Manager Chuck Stearns said if a future 267 space parking structure were built at $22,000 per space for a total of $5.8 million, the Kimley-Horn contract would represent 1.66 percent of the construction cost. Total engineering costs are typically 15-18 percent of construction costs, Stearns explained.
Part of the feasibility study’s scope of work is to give a more accurate cost per space for a parking deck or structure, Stearns said.
Councilor Phil Mitchell voted against the feasibility study, saying that one of the proposed sites for City Hall across from the post office should be included on the list of site options. He went on to say that while parking is an issue downtown, he never agreed that a parking structure is the solution.
“Are we in agreement that we need a parking structure before we spend $90,000?” Mitchell asked the council.
“We ID’d downtown parking as one of the critical items we need to deal with,” councilor Frank Sweeney responded to Mitchell’s question. “Now I’m confused — you don’t think a parking structure is needed?”
Mitchell suggested forming a committee and looking at how other towns deal with parking without parking structures.
Mayor John Muhlfeld was in favor of the feasibility study.
“We’re not advocating we go out and build a parking structure in next two years, but we are charged with looking at a long-term plan for the city,” Muhlfeld said. “This is the exact step we need.”
In 2008, plans for a parking garage at Second Street and Spokane were shot down by council. Cost estimates for that parking structure were as high as $6.6 million and included 218 spaces, three levels and store fronts facing Second Street. The 2005 Downtown Master Plan names a public parking structure with retail at Second and Spokane as the top priority catalyst project.
In other council news:
• Council unanimously approved adjustments to the fiscal year 2012 budget to account for expenditures and transfers that did not have or exceeded budget authority. The library fund was $42,157 over balance, mostly due to one-time startup costs and an under-projected payroll. The ambulance fund was $49,065 out of balance due to overtime as a result of several injuries. In all, nine funds were found out of balance.
• Council voted to establish an ad hoc Community Wastewater Committee to address water quality concerns relating to septic contamination in Whitefish Lake, attributed to failing septic systems.