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March 15, 2006Another parking deck?Plan for Old Town structure is discussedTRAVERSE CITY - City officials are making plans for a third public parking deck, weeks after a still-fresh and controversial decision to pay for a deck on West Front Street.The city commission on Feb. 27 approved up to $16 million in bonds to build a 500-plus space deck on West Front Street, part of an eight-story mixed-use development by Michael Uzelac of Federated Properties. Opponents of the West Front plan started to collect signatures to place the bond issue on the ballot. The city's first deck, located on State Street, opened in 2003. On Monday, city officials launched a plan to build the city's third deck, this one in Old Town, but acknowledged the tax increment financing system alone can't pay for it. In the next months, city officials will tackle zoning and financing issues. A plan could be approved this fall, in time to put the question to voters in February, should the public call for a referendum on the Old Town deck, too. "If we could sit back and wait on it, I guess we would, but ... we feel like we've got to move forward as quickly as we can," said Bryan Crough, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority. Old Town companies including Hagerty Insurance Agency asked the DDA to work on public parking issues there. Crough said about 80 percent of the three-level, 410-space deck would be used for employee parking. At night, he said the deck could be used by patrons of the Old Town Playhouse. The city does not have a cost estimate for the deck. The project is in the city's tax increment financing district, TIF 2, which expires in 2014. Crough said those funds alone can't "pick up the tab," so the city could apply for a community development block grant. That grant is federal money passed through the state. The city also will talk with business and property owners to gauge interest in a public and privately financed parking deck. Plans show the deck located on three parcels, owned by Hagerty, Addiction Treatment Services and Old Town Association, a group of nearby business owners. City commissioners offered mixed reaction to the Old Town plans. "The concern I have is too much too soon," Ralph Soffredine said But Scott Hardy said the city should assist Old Town businesses. "We ought to, in trade, do everything we can to help them flourish," he said.
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