Parking in Midway’s downtown was a large part of discussion at the city council’s most recent meeting.
Three items on the Midway City Council January 21 agenda were in regard to parking in the city. One of the first items on the agenda was a discussion about an agreement between the city and a lot owner near the intersection of Main Street and 100 East.
The Miller family owns a vacant lot located at 70 East Main Street, across the street from Midway Mercantile and Probst Funeral Home. City attorney Corbin Gordon explained to the council the Miller family has agreed to allow the city to use their property as a parking lot in exchange for a few things.
“Paying the property taxes on it,” Gordon continued. “We are allowed to improve it with gravel. We're not allowed to go in and pave it, but we can gravel it. We're allowed to control what happens on it as far as parking goes. It's a four-year agreement. It can be renewed at the end by mutual agreement. So, for the next four years that should address a lot of the parking needs that we have in that area.”
The cost to place the gravel and required grading work will cost the city about $25,000 which will come out of the $40,000 parking budget.
The parking would be available year-round and would yield somewhere between 17 and 20 stalls. The council continued the item to give council members another opportunity to look over the agreement.
Council also discussed potentially updating the city code requirement to having one parking space required for every 150 square feet of dining space in a restaurant. Currently the requirement is one stall for every 250 square feet of dining room floor space. The code would potentially include outside dining area as part of the equation. Council also continued this item after some discussion.
Finally at the meeting the Midway City council also continued discussions about amending their code regarding the Festival Market Business Licenses. The amendment would incentivize the creation of public parking by offering booth spaces in paved parking lots during Swiss Days in exchange for public parking during the rest of the year. That item was continued as the council continues to work out the details.
