CITY OF LOCKPORT: Council sobered by revised ramp estimate

By Joyce Miles<br><a href="mailto:joyce.miles@lockportjournal.com">E-mail Joyce</a>

Who thinks the city should borrow $10 million so it can demolish and rebuild a parking garage with a first-class canal park on top?

Almost nobody, judging from Common Council members’ reaction to the estimated price tag this week.

Staff from Foit-Albert Associates met with the Council briefly Wednesday to report the design engineering firm is ready, any time the city’s ready, to proceed to design and construction of a new parking garage.

The firm earlier presented the city with a concept proposal to demolish the existing garage at Main and Pine streets and develop a two-floor underground garage in its place, topped by screened surface parking and public greenspace linking Main Street and the Erie Canal. Combined, the garage and surface lot would accommodate parking for 200.

Foit-Albert’s revised cost estimate on the project is about $10 million, according to Scott E. Kinsman, vice president of engineering. That’s about $2 million more than its initial estimate a year ago. The concept imagines a “grand entrance” on Main Street, a “green” roof on the underground structure and public access to the roof of the Electric Building, where the Erie Canal basin can be viewed.

“We are ready to move on with that concept in mind,” Kinsman said.

The firm is seeking Council approval of the concept before it goes any further with development. It’s already hired by the city to take a project to completion, contingent on funding being available.

Enter a $10 million loan?

It’s apparently the only money source available to the city at this point, City Clerk/Budget Director Richard Mullaney said. One of Foit-Albert’s duties during concept drafting was to identify public or private grants the city might be eligible for — and its experts said there are none currently.

To be eligible for a so-called federal stimulus grant, proposed projects have to be “shovel ready,” said Norman Allen, city director of engineering. A parking garage project wouldn’t be so until after the existing structure is demolished, and that’s expected to cost about $1 million, itself.

The thought of a $10 million loan doesn’t sit well with most current or incoming aldermen.

Unless the city has substantial grant assistance, 3rd Ward Alderman Flora McKenzie suggested, she’s not interested in hearing construction proposals.

1st Ward Alderman Richelle Pasceri all but wrote it off as impossible, given the current economic climate.

4th Ward Alderman-elect Andy Chapman wanted to know if a proposition could be put to city voters giving them final approval of such a large loan.

There’s a problem at Main and Pine that has to be dealt with sooner or later, Mayor Michael Tucker responded. The existing concrete garage has been shut down since mid-2006 because it’s crumbling. Meanwhile, some nearby commercial properties are suffering because of insufficient customer parking.

“The unfortunate thing is we have a ramp and we have to do something with it. It won’t be any cheaper in the future,” Tucker said.

The mayor has always been opposed to a partial ramp project — demolition now and redevelopment later — because he imagines there’s a good chance Main Street would suffer more in the long run.

“We’d be disrupting Main twice, once for demolition and again in the future for construction. And that’s if there is construction. My fear is if we do demolition only, we’ll never go back and finish the job,” he said.

4th Ward Alderman Pat Schrader agreed.

“We already had one 26-year hole on Main Street (the old “south block” where City Centre now stands). We don’t want another one,” he said.

If the $10 million price tag on a parking garage/canal park seems too high, Tucker said, the Council can always direct a less ambitious design. Maybe the “grand entrance” or elements of the park get scrapped in favor of something “leaner.”

“It’s not going away, regardless,” he said. “The onus is on us to do something. Can you see it sitting there 20 years from now like that?”

The city’s contract with Foit-Albert calls for a garage project in two phases: First, concept drafting, public outreach and grant searching; then design and construction if the city authorizes a project. The firm was paid upwards of $70,000 for completing the first phase.

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.

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