City Council to Vote on City Center Parking Garage Lease

Stephen Williams reports in the Gazette that the City Council will be voting tonight (Tuesday, September 17) on the City Center’s plans to build a parking garage and a lease between the city and the City Center Authority that will allow the construction to move forward.

The lease will allow the City Center to build the facility on part of a city-owned parcel between Maple Avenue and High Rock Avenue.  The lease will be for a dollar per year with the city guaranteed  60 spaces for city use and a share from revenues coming from any parking charges. The current plan calls for later phases of development on the rest of the parcel to include green space, a small park, and room for potential commercial development.

The idea for a parking garage on this site has been discussed since the City Center was first built nearly 30 years ago and has been the subject of much controversy. Williams rightly gives Mayor Meg Kelly credit for bringing supporters and opponents together to finally move this project forward.

There will be a final public hearing on the project at 6:30 PM before the Council meeting which will be held at the city Rec Center. No objections were raised at the last public hearing on this two weeks ago where many supporters spoke–a sharp contrast to all the contentious hearings on the City Center project many of us sat through in the past.

Here’s a link to the Gazette story:

https://dailygazette.com/article/2019/09/16/saratoga-council-voting-on-parking-garage-lease