The City Council is holding a workshop today at 2pm to discuss the need for downtown parking and the location options for a parking garage.
The Georgetown City Council will meet on February 11, 2020 at 2:00 PM at City Council Chambers, 510 W 9th Street Georgetown, TX 78626
SUBJECT:
Presentation and review regarding the downtown parking garage project and discussion of options for further review of additional sites -- David Morgan, City Manager
ITEM SUMMARY:
This workshop is to provide background for the current work on the proposed downtown parking garage at 6th and Main and to discuss options for council direction on analysis of different sites.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The funding for the current garage was included in the FY2019 Budget at $5 million. A contract for $348,000 was approved in November 2019 with Wantman Group for the architectural and engineering design on the proposed structure.
Here is the staff recommendation:
There does does not seem to be a recommendation as to how the public will be involved in the site selection, but, it is recognized that a process has to be developed and presented to Council before moving forward.
To those who follow the City Council, it seems it has taken a turn for increased secrecy. The City has long kept information about the electric company secret, but now we are seeing "sweetheart deals" with Citibank for electricity . Another tactic being employed to keep the public in the dark is to schedule votes on potentially controversial issues at the end of council meetings when the public has gone home.
Another secret deal seems to be the placement of the proposed downtown parking garage. The city plans to build
the garage at the
southeast corner of Main and Sixth streets on the site
of an existing city parking
lot behind the old council
chambers building. The existing lot has 50 parking spaces and the multistory garage will have 200 spaces.
There has been no traffic study conducted to assess the impact of the additional traffic on Main Street and the surrounding streets. Why not?
The City has already signed a contract for the garage design and they has been no public hearings on the current need for a parking garage and where it should be placed if needed now.
This location requires the closure of 12 feet on
Sixth Street and will eliminate
six on-street parking spaces.
There are other issues, including conflict with the Downtown Master Plan.
What is the rush many citizens would like to know?
Council Persons Jonrowe and Triggs voted against the taking of part of 6th street and said they were very disappointed in the secret and incomplete process used to select the location for the garage.
What is going on with the other Council People? Don't they want to engage the public on this issue? Are they hiding something, or is it a bad case of ignorance? Where is the transparency?
Early last year the City decided to focus on parking enforcement in and around the Courthouse square. Here are the initial results.
It looks like there are some serial offenders and they are enriching the City coffers.
Be aware that enforcement has increased and violating parking rules can get very expensive!
