Franklin outlines conditional TIF offer to buy downtown lot for 14–18 parking spaces

Franklin urged the commission to review a tentative, conditional offer the city has placed on a property in the 5th District that could be converted into off‑street downtown parking.

Franklin said the conditional offer would create “somewhere between 14 and 18 spots” and that the proposal is intended to address overnight parking shortages for downtown residents and customer parking for businesses. She described the offer as “very tentative” and repeatedly emphasized multiple contingencies, including the commission’s formal approval of TIF funding, environmental remediation and a clean bill of health for a property that was previously a gas station, and engineering and planning work to ready the site.

The city manager said the TIF application covers purchase and the steps necessary to make the property ready for demolition, and that rebuilding or any additional improvements would rely on other funding sources and grants. The manager noted the urban renewal plan for the 5th District identifies downtown public improvements such as pedestrian enhancements and additional green space, and framed the parking idea as consistent with those goals.

Franklin said the TIF advisory committee will meet later this week and that the city has a timeline “through basically the beginning of July” to seek approval from the commission for any TIF funding. She said she worked with a realtor and provided commissioners with a rough lot sketch estimating capacity; the sketch was made to give the commission a sense of options and was distributed to board members at the meeting.

No formal motion or vote on the purchase was taken at the meeting. Next steps described by speakers: the TIF advisory committee will review the application, engineers would need to complete remediation and planning work, and the commission would later consider any TIF funding request in a subsequent public agenda item.