RAPID CITY, SD (KOTA) – Plans are underway to renovate a parking garage on Main Street. But there are concerns about what the reduction in parking spaces could mean for downtown Fast City businesses.
On Friday morning, the Rapid City Community Development and Public Works Departments heard concerns about how renovations to the downtown parking structure will affect the community. Many of the attendees were business owners who were concerned about the timeline for the renovations, as construction is expected to begin in mid-November.
“We always need parking downtown throughout the year, and doing a project like this takes up parking spaces in garages during the holiday season. We wanted to see if we could change that,” said Clancy Kingsbury, owner of Mann’s Hobby House downtown.
The renovation is expected to be completed in phases. And the first phase requires the complete closure of the parking garage for eight weeks.
“In addition to the first level, we’re going to close the garage for a period of time, we’re going to call it room one, and we’re going to do the rest of the repairs in quadruple on each floor,” said Stephen Kilber, project engineer at Albertsons Engineering.
“I can’t speak for all the business owners who live downtown, but we all know the parking garage needs maintenance. We want to see that done, ultimately, it’s going to be a safer facility than anything else,” Kingsbury said.
Despite the temporary inconvenience the renovation will cause to downtown businesses and members of the public, the renovated parking garage will provide greater safety and security for the public.
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