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Darryl Craft of Staunton installs handrails for the stairs of the city's new parking deck, which officials aim to open soon.
Fredericksburg's $5.8 million parking deck on Sophia Street is almost finished. |
By EMILY BATTLE
In less than a month, visitors to downtown Fredericksburg will be able to use the city's new $5.8 million parking garage.
The 297-space deck is set to open by Nov. 1, in time for downtown holiday shopping and festivals.
Assistant City Manager Beverly Cameron said there's just a few weeks' worth of work left to do to get the garage ready.
Crews from Donley's, the contractor the city hired for the project, still have some site work to do around the garage, which will include laying brick sidewalks and installing ornamental lighting on the streets that line the garage.
Inside, most of the work is finished, but crews are still striping spaces and installing light fixtures and handrails.
Cameron said the block of Sophia street where traffic has been disrupted during the work could be reopened to normal traffic within a couple of weeks.
At its Oct. 11 meeting, the City Council will consider a list of recommendations city officials have made on how the garage should operate, and how much it should cost to park there.
The garage will be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The city will hire about 10 part-time employees to work as parking attendants in the garage.
Attendants will be on duty weekdays from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. and Sundays and holidays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
But the garage will be fully accessible, even when the attendants aren't on duty. The city will hire private security to patrol it during those times.
The city anticipates operation of the garage will cost about $125,000 a year. Fredericksburg will also have to pay $335,000 a year in debt service on the project.
The debt service will be paid for with the local fuel tax, which Fredericksburg levies as a member of the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission.
The city hopes to recoup as much of the operating expenses as it can through parking fees, but it has to balance that desire with the reality that the parking deck will compete against downtown streets lined with free 2-hour parking spots.
City staff have recommended that the first two hours of parking in the garage be free, since people can park free for two hours on the street anyway.
After that, customers could park for up to three hours for $3, with each additional hour costing $1. Monthly spaces would also be available for $60. Customers will be able to pay for parking with cash and credit cards.
With that fee structure, Cameron said the city could expect to recoup at least half of its operating expenses, but he said it will be hard to tell for sure until the deck opens, and the city can observe how people are using it.
Of the 297 spaces in the garage, 48 will be reserved for employees working in the Executive Plaza on Caroline Street, and the city has said it could make as many as 80 spots available for a downtown hotel on Caroline and Charlotte streets to lease.
The city has solicited proposals from two interested developers for a hotel to be built on land the city owns on that corner.
That leaves 169 spots available on weekdays for other motorists, and Cameron said at this point, the city doesn't intend to hold any more aside for city or other downtown employees.
He said the city would also prefer not to lease a lot of spaces to commuters who ride the Virginia Railway Express from downtown Fredericksburg, mainly because the parking deck is intended as a tool to spur economic development downtown by providing parking spaces for people who are going to spend money in its shops and restaurants.
"The primary purpose of that facility was not to provide commuter parking," he said.
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