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Swisher Economic Alliance offers downtown parking lease; council accepts attorney revisions and asks engineer for cost study
Summary
The Swisher City Council heard a proposal to lease the old lumberyard for downtown parking at $200 a month, approved city-attorney lease revisions to present to the landowner and asked the city engineer to analyze conversion costs and report back at the November meeting.
The Swisher City Council on Oct. 14 heard a proposal from the Swisher Economic Alliance to lease the town's old lumberyard as a public parking lot and approved city-attorney revisions to the proposed lease before sending them to the property owner.
The Alliance representatives told the council the clinic that controls the site would be willing to lease the property for $200 a month and estimated the lot could yield about 40''to' 50 parking spaces. "They're willing to lease the old lumberyard for $200 a month," the Alliance representative said.
Mayor (presiding) said the city's insurance currently provides $3,000,000 in liability coverage and relayed guidance from the city's insurance agent that a $3,000,000 requirement would be preferable to the $5,000,000 the lease initially listed: "The requirement is we'd like to see the requirement to be 3,000,000 or under. Our policy currently has 3,000,000." Council members said the attorney had already removed or reduced some lease items and asked the Alliance to identify any additional changes it wanted the city to pursue with the landowner, Crandick.
Council members and business owners warned that converting the site into a functional parking lot would likely require more than simple gravel and painting: they raised grading, base preparation, drainage, lighting, and snow removal as needs that could drive up costs. One council member asked the city engineer to evaluate the parcel and provide cost estimates and grading information; the engineer said staff could run the site through existing cost spreadsheets and return recommendations, likely at the November meeting.
A council member moved to accept the city attorney's lease revisions and forward them to Crandick; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. Council instructed staff to have HR Green (the city engineering consultant) prepare cost options for consideration at the next meeting.
Next steps: the city attorney's revised lease will be sent to the landowner and staff will have the engineer study conversion costs and return estimates to the council at the November meeting.
