Mayor Johnson says city bought two downtown parking lots, leases Southern Hotel lot to add spaces

Mayor Mark Johnson reported to the council that the city closed on the purchase of two privately owned downtown parking parcels—Plaza Drive and Rutland Street—to prevent potential development that would have reduced parking downtown.

"So we now own the Plaza Drive parking lot and the Rutland Street parking lot," Mayor Johnson said, summarizing the completed transaction. He said the purchases were funded by the city and were intended to preserve parking capacity near the trail head and downtown businesses.

Johnson also said the city arranged a lease with the Southern Hotel to use an adjacent vacant lot; crews leveled the surface with red clay and added limestone to create roughly 35–40 temporary parking spaces while a longer-term surface plan proceeds. He described the limestone layering as an interim step: "when that limestone hits the red clay and you drive on it, it's going to press down...then we'll come back in with another layer of limestone to cover over."

The mayor announced a police department annex open house on April 23 at 4:30 p.m., timed to allow visitors to then attend the evening Rock and the Rails event at the trail head. He also previewed a new downtown restaurant map—listing roughly 40 restaurants and drink venues within a five-block radius—that will be produced as a 4x4 sign for the trail head and expanded through the summer to include additional corridors.

Councilmembers thanked the administration for the work on parking and downtown promotion. The mayor closed with holiday wishes and a reminder that the next council meeting is May 5.