The Dexter Leader
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DDA considers parking issues before restaurant opens
PUBLISHED: February 8, 2007
With the Monument Park Building set to be completely occupied by April, parking space might pose an issue.
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And the Downtown Development Authority is already contemplating alternatives for possible parking spaces on Forest Street, said Chairman Dan O'Haver.
John Evans of Swisher Commercial said that letters were sent three weeks ago to four homeowners on Forest Street inquiring about the possibility of selling their homes.
"We know that parking will be an issue once the restaurant opens in the Monument Park Building," he said. "Additional parking spaces will be needed and we're looking at Forest Street to expand parking."
Evans said that the value of the properties hasn't been determined.
"It's all preliminary to see if there's any interest in selling," he said.
But downtown parking issues is nothing new, said O'Haver.
"The DDA has been aware that we're going to run into some parking issues," he said.
O'Haver added that the DDA has been eyeing parts of Forest Street as a possible parking lot expansion, but nothing is definite.
"We're just in the investigation phase to see what's feasible and what's not feasible," he said. "The long term plan is to develop a municipal parking adjacent to the current Main Street parking lot."
Both Evans and O'Haver weren't clear how many parking spaces would spawn from the four homes on Forest Street.
The Main Street parking lot currently has about 70 parking spaces available.
"With the new restaurant opening at noon, parking may be a problem," O'Haver said. "We're really looking at that because we don't want to spend a ton of money on something we don't need. We're being really careful and looking at issues from every angle."
O'Haver added that an adjacent parking lot won't happen overnight, but the DDA has a solution if parking poses a problem.
"We could have 20 to 30 on-street parking spots on Forest to temporarily house the additional parking," he said. "It would be similar to the parking spots on Broad Street."
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