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Residents demand transparent funding plan as commission weighs K Street garage
Summary
Multiple speakers presented a petition and public comments urging the commission not to advance the K Street garage entitlement without a complete funding plan that spells out construction costs, long-term operations, and whether taxpayers will be responsible.
Residents and local stakeholders used the public-comment period to press the commission for full transparency about how the K Street parking garage would be paid for and whether paid parking or taxpayer dollars would be required to cover debt service and operations.
Catherine Cormier read a petition she said collected 127 signatures in two days asking the commission to "publicly release a complete funding plan for the proposed K Street parking garage before making any additional financial commitments to the project." The petition asked for a detailed budget (soft costs, hard costs, contingency, and escalation), clarity on whether parking fees would be required, and how many spaces would be leased to residents in new developments.
Nancy Udell and other speakers focused on CRA involvement and the Bohemian garage, arguing the city and CRA should better explain the current and projected costs. "If it's too late to renegotiate, I don't know if anybody's been negotiating on behalf of the public in this whole process," Udell said, citing increases in the project estimate from earlier published figures. Several speakers urged tabling or postponing new spending until funding sources are fully documented and a clear operations plan is presented.
City staff responded that the entitlement vote is a land-use decision and that financing, GMP and operational plans would be developed and presented in subsequent steps before construction contract approval. That sequence was accepted by commissioners as the process for further scrutiny.
