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Fort Pierce commissioners press to move parking garage plans from study to action; JCPenney lot identified as primary city site
Summary
Commissioners criticized repeated parking studies and urged the city to move to engineering and planning. The parking committee recommended against the vendor deal; the JCPenney lot on 2nd Street was identified as the only downtown city-owned site large enough for a multi-level garage; commissioners discussed conceptual size and cost estimates.
Commissioners told staff they are ready to move past repeated studies and start planning a downtown parking structure, with the parking committee recommending against the current vendor contract.
Commissioner Broderick (S7), leading the committee update, said parking studies reached similar conclusions and questioned why location selection had used privately owned lots, a choice that would raise land costs. "Why are we gonna just take this property or pay market rate?" he asked, arguing the city should focus on land it controls.
Broderick identified the city-controlled surface lot behind the 2nd Street Bistro (the former JCPenney parcel) as the primary feasible location in downtown. He said the committee had run three studies and "they all say the same thing." The committee voted to change its recommendation after staff analysis of proposed contract terms and the vendor's revised revenue-sharing terms.
On scale and cost, commissioners discussed a conceptual structure of roughly 500 spaces. During the discussion Broderick cited two figures: a per-space estimate of about $35,000 "in today's dollars" and a separate $35,000,000 figure referenced when discussing bonding—figures that are inconsistent in the transcript; a 500-space structure at $35,000 per space would total about $17.5 million before escalation. Commissioners acknowledged costs will rise by the time construction begins and emphasized starting engineering and concept planning now so the city can preserve options and timing in its capital plan.
Commissioners said the waterfront project may reduce existing surface parking and increases the urgency of addressing capacity. The commission asked staff to present the prior parking study and to bring the parking committee's recommendation back for a formal agenda item and public discussion.
What happens next: Staff will provide prior studies and the parking committee's recommendation to the full commission for scheduling of an agenda item to consider next steps, including concept engineering and financing options.
