The anguished battle over a parking garage may have its last stand Tuesday, April 14.<\/p>\n
At its meeting, Scottsdale City Council assuredly will face angry opponents in an issue that seemed decided in mid-2024.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, a so-called \u201cOld Town Parking War\u201d was settled with a compromise. Some City Council members pushed for a bond-backed parking garage at the existing First and Brown \u201cParking Corral\u201d; other members mocked that idea, saying the nearby Entertainment District needed more parking spaces.<\/p>\n
The solution: all of the above.<\/p>\n
On July 1, 2024, Council unanimously directed city staff to move ahead on both garages, one within shouting district of City Hall across from the Mission Restaurant, the other at Sixth Avenue and Stetson Drive in the bar-hopping area.<\/p>\n
Though there was spicy infighting within the council, few citizens seemed interested \u2013 or, at least, interested enough to attend several meetings on parking during the first half of 2024.<\/p>\n
Six months later, however, after newly-elected Mayor Lisa Borowsky unsuccessfully tried to detour the First and Brown garage, the issue became a rallying cry for some of her vocal followers.<\/p>\n
Borowsky and those who shared her view brought up the issue at nearly every council meeting that followed.<\/p>\n
After the so-called \u201cbloc\u201d council majority rejected several attempts by the mayor for a study on Old Town parking, citizens Steve Sutton, Crystal Carroll and others expressed outrage over the \u201cmonstrous\u201d garage plan.<\/p>\n
Sutton collected hundreds of signatures on anti-garage petitions and has been running ads decrying a waste of money \u201cbetter spent repairing our streets and other infrastructure necessities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Costs?<\/strong><\/p>\n According to a presentation by then-Public Works Director Dan Worth in 2024, each of the two garages was projected to cost $15.2 million, with 216 total spaces at First and Brown and 144 in the Entertainment District.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s \u201cBrown Avenue Parking Structure Expansion\u201d project website now lists a budget of $20.9 million. The project website for the Entertainment District garage remains at $15.2 million.<\/p>\n The Progress asked City Manager Greg Caton if the $20.9 million budget of the First and Brown garage is accurate. At press time, he had not responded.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 According to the April 14 agenda, $1.86 million has been spent on the project; City Council approved a $1.7 million design contract to Chasse Building Team Feb. 2025 by a 6-1 vote \u2013 with Borowsky the only opposing vote.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 According to the city, \u201cIn the 2019 bond election, voters approved Project No. 63 to provide additional parking facilities in Old Town.<\/p>\n \u201cOn July 1, 2024, Council gave direction to proceed with the addition of two levels to the existing City-owned parking structure at 1st Street and Brown Avenue.\u201d<\/p>\n Also known as the \u201cParking Corral,\u201d this Old Town lot has also been home to the Scottsdale Farmers Market, held most Saturdays of the year.<\/p>\n The city reached an agreement to move the market \u2013 which closes in the summer \u2013 to the City Hall lot this fall.<\/p>\n In the face of criticism from Borowsky, Sutton and others,\u00a0 garage supporter Councilman Barry Graham has repeatedly pointed out that voters in 2019 overwhelmingly approved a bond package that included \u201cpublic parking facilities and improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n The bond did not provide specifics in item 63, \u201cBuild Parking Structures in Old Town Scottsdale\u201d \u2013 to the tune of $21 million.<\/p>\n That cost may have has doubled, after the 2024 Council decided to build the Brown Avenue garage as well as a second garage less than 1 mile north.<\/p>\n While the garage in the Entertainment District looms in the background, things are heating up for the Parking Corral expansion.<\/p>\n After a March 12 public meeting \u201cto review the final design and learn about construction sequencing,\u201d the project is on a fast track: \u201cconstruction is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2026,\u201d according to the city\u2019s webpage for the project.<\/p>\n At last month\u2019s meeting, Carroll — who is running for City Council — fumed that the $90,000 per parking space of the new garage is three times the national average.<\/p>\n Rather than putting the project out to bid using the request for proposal\/RFP model, she was told, the city followed a design build process as \u201cbest for the complex project.\u201d<\/p>\n In answer to Carroll\u2019s questions, city project manager Roger Berna said several \u201cteams\u201d applied with the city.<\/p>\n \u201cWe picked the most qualified team,\u201d Berna said.<\/p>\n In making a March 24 presentation to Council, Sutton noted this was the fourth petition \u201con the subject of building a garage on top of the Parking Corral.\u201d<\/p>\n This petition, he said, \u201chas 4,628 signatures of individuals telling you to stop\u201d building the garage.<\/p>\n Sutton\u2019s latest petition: \u201cWe, the undersigned Scottsdale residents, petition the City Council to cancel plans to build a garage extension at the Brown Avenue Parking Corral.\u201d<\/p>\n Sutton was backed by Borowsky in hoping Council would consider the petition as an agenda item. But Councilman Adam Kwasman made an alternate motion to have Caton give a written response.<\/p>\n Kwasman was joined in support by Graham, Jan Dubauskas and Kathy Littlefield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The anguished battle over a parking garage may have its last stand Tuesday, April 14. 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