Thursday, June 14, 2007

Do-over on board hearings defers Shain debate

By John McTaggart

An expected debate over the location of the Shain Park underground parking ramp was deferred Monday night after city staff said hearings last month before the city’s Planning Board and Historic District Commission were improperly noticed.

The hearings have not yet been rescheduled. In the meantime, city staff will look into options for conducting a pedestrian study of the area, and look at ways the city can fund cost overruns on the project.

“Procedurally, it seems to me, that with the defective notice and the requirement that this be re-heard, that it would be most appropriate to defer moving ahead until the hearing process takes place,” City Manager Tom Markus said. “Something may have come out of those hearings that would have changed the product we’re looking at today.”

Mayor Tom McDaniel agreed: “We have no choice but to do this public hearing process correctly,” he said.

Cost of the 200-space parking deck, originally pegged at $9.8 million, the amount of a bond issue approved by voters, is now pegged at $10.5 million. Cost of park improvements, for which $3 million in park bond funds were allocated, is now estimated at $3.5 million or more. Neither of these estimates include street and sewer improvements around the park, or public restrooms.

Concept drawings for the park are substantially complete, and the project is now on track to pass through a design development phase. City boards and the public will have continued opportunity for input during this phase of the design process.