Council hears phased plan for Calvary Baptist site, downtown streets, sidewalks and parking

City staff presented a phased plan for redevelopment of the Calvary Baptist Church campus and conceptual downtown street improvements at the May 6 council meeting, outlining demolition, asbestos remediation and a multi‑deck parking approach tied to a proposed apartment complex.

Why it matters: The project would reshape the core downtown circulation and pedestrian environment, affect on‑street parking and public parking supply, and requires asbestos remediation and multiple construction contracts to move forward.

A staff presenter described the Calvary site work as three phases. "Because Calvary, Baptist Church is is such a big campus, what we decided to do is break it up into 3 different phases," the presenter said. The timeline shown to council indicated asbestos remediation and demolition for phase 1, with a target for a fall 2025 festival and subsequent phases extending into 2026. The presenter said some preliminary asbestos work had already begun on one phase‑1 building.

Staff told council there are two agenda items related to the project: an asbestos remediation contract (item 20) specific to phase 1 and a construction authorization for all three phases (item 24). During a separate discussion staff clarified contracting roles: the asbestos consultant is under a city contract that went out for bids and is required to oversee remediation and conduct air monitoring; the consultant contract is separate from the contractor performing abatement and demolition.

Council members asked detailed questions about the proposed downtown street cross section, sidewalk widths and parking. City staff said the design goal is to "get the sidewalks up to 10 feet wide" in core downtown areas, while acknowledging narrower four‑foot sections in some spots to preserve parking. Staff and council discussed a multi‑deck parking garage described in the presentation as "only 700" spaces; further remarks during the discussion indicated about 291 apartment units associated with the development and roughly "a little over 200" public parking spaces in the deck, but council discussion reflected some arithmetic confusion and differing references to how many spaces would be reserved for apartments versus public use.

Staff also showed conceptual roundabout designs for two downtown intersections, noting the roundabouts are intended to improve traffic circulation and to create plazas that could be used for small festivals or food trailers. One staff member said the city is "trying to get that into construction this year" for the first roundabout, and showed renderings marked as conceptual only.

Council members emphasized retaining street trees and landscaping to make the downtown area pedestrian‑friendly and discussed the tradeoffs between wider sidewalks and on‑street parking. Staff said detailed engineering drawings with dimensions would be provided to council to firm up sidewalk widths, cut‑through walkways and parking allocations.

On asbestos and consultant costs, staff explained the consultant contract covers oversight and air monitoring and is bid separately from the abatement contractor. Council questioned consultant fees relative to abatement costs; staff said the consultant performs required independent oversight and that monitoring and final clearances are part of the consultant scope.

The presentation generated detailed design questions and requests for further engineering schematics but did not include final contract awards or council votes at this meeting.