Ooh boy. This is tough. You may not like what I’m about to say. I’m just gonna spit it out; rip the BandAid off quickly. Here we go. This may sting a bit…
Key West officials are considering plans for a new parking garage at Angela and Simonton streets.
There, I said it. Now, cue the outrage and crank up that old Joni Mitchell song: “They paved paradise and they put up a parking lot.”
Sound familiar? It should. Last time the city built a parking garage — the Park ’n’ Ride at Caroline and Grinnell — those lyrics appeared in spray paint on a nearby cement wall.
And I get it. I do. Parking garages are rarely popular, standing as they do as a stark reminder of space we no longer have for cars we can’t seem to live without.
When it comes to the current proposal for a parking garage at Simonton and Angela streets, things could be worse.
First, nothing has been approved yet. The city commission hasn’t discussed or approved the project yet. And senior city staffers will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 27 to present the plans, answer questions and consider concerns.
Second, a 64-spot parking lot already exists on the city-owned property at Simonton and Angela streets — plus there’s a precedent for a multilevel parking garage on that site, as one existed there years ago, when city hall and the police department were located there.
Third, the L-shaped parking structure being proposed by consultants with pfb architects is shorter than the fire station that faces Simonton Street, and significantly shorter than the large, white, boxy building next door that’s always been known as the “Bell South building,” with its giant communications tower stretching skyward from its roof.
Fourth, the new garage will provide 85 new parking spots, more than doubling the number of spaces currently available at the site. And those 85 new spots represent new revenue for the city, where officials are keeping a wary eye on Tallahassee as state legislators consider sweeping changes to property taxes that represent a huge chunk of revenue for most cities and counties. Parking director John Wilkins estimates the new parking garage would generate an additional $424,000 each year, bringing the total revenue of that site from $317,332 to a proposed $741,872.
“The city manager asked the engineering and parking (departments) to evaluate the possibility of constructing a parking garage (with parking on the ground level, plus two stories) at the Fire Station #2 property on Simonton Street,” engineering director Doug Bradshaw wrote in a Nov. 21 email to the mayor and commissioners. “A couple of years ago the city (considered) a parking deck (ground level plus one story) at the site, which added 64 additional spaces, but the required footprint of the structure overwhelmed the site. This time the city tasked the consultant to look at a multilevel structure with a reduced footprint.”
Bradshaw attached a presentation to his email that outlined “City staff’s determination of why a parking garage is needed; its benefits to businesses, the city and the residents.”
The Keys Weekly obtained a copy of that presentation, which explains the need for a parking garage: • Small shops need more parking for customers. • Employees must pay a regular price to park near their place of employment. • Revenue is needed to fund loss of grants for transit. • More funding is needed for affordable housing • Electric charging stations are needed to support the city’s sustainability goals.
The presentation also examines potential business impacts in the area: • A larger parking structure would increase foot traffic to local retail shops. • Key West’s parking price of $6 an hour is the highest in Florida and more expensive than New York City, which charges $5 an hour. More parking supply could slow the rate of inflation that keeps driving parking prices up. • The central downtown location is ideal.
Additional benefits:
• Reduce congestion in the area caused by vehicles searching for parking. Customers would choose this location because it is well known and offers almost guaranteed available parking including permit parking for locals and employees.
• Revenue could be earmarked to support the city’s transit goals of improving and increasing public transit to encourage less trips by private vehicle. This additional revenue could provide a funding source for transit.
• If employee parking permits are expanded to this new parking structure, fewer employees will park in the blocks surrounding the commercial core and the demand for parking spaces in the historic neighborhoods will be reduced.
• The city could dedicate some spaces in the new parking structure for the Employee Lot permit program, as there is at Truman Waterfront Park and the Old Town Garage.
