By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Councilors could yank the $5 million bond for a Great Falls Plaza parking garage next week.

The City Council is scheduled to vote to “de-authorize” the bond package approved by previous councilors in February 2004 at their meeting May 2. If they choose to keep the bond, they’ll also vote on a land swap with Tom Platz.

On Monday, several former city councilors and developers urged them to push the garage forward.

“If this were four different properties and the council was a central garage for four different office buildings, would this be different?” said Midnight Blues Club owner Paul Morency. “I think it would.”

Tom Platz’s TimCorp owns half of the land in the plaza. Platz plans to build between one and four office buildings on the site, arranged around the garage. Platz Associates’ representative Steve Meyers said at least one building is guaranteed.

“We plan to build one, whether or not the city builds a garage,” Meyers said. “But if there is no garage, there is no room for further development. If the city builds the garage, there will be room to build three more buildings.”

Meyers also presented new site plans for the garage. The latest plans would move it from the corner of Turner Street and Great Falls Plaza to the center of the plaza, surrounded by buildings. It would require the city to trade 30,000 square feet of land to Platz for 20,000 square feet.

“We had heard complaints about putting the garage on the corner,” Meyers said. “People objected to putting a garage right on the corner in such a prominent spot. It didn’t leave any room for expansion, either.”

The latest plan would have the city build a four-level garage with about 80 spaces per level. The city could expand the structure later on.

But councilors will have to sign off on the bond package first. Councilor Bob Menneally said he would favor studying the city’s parking needs to see if a garage is needed first.

“If the new study shows the need is there and the investment is a wise one for the citizens, we can proceed and do so knowing that it is in the best interest of all the citizens and not just the special interests of the few,” Mennealy said.

Former City Councilor Gerard Dennison said the garage is needed. It would provide parking spaces for the entire downtown, spurring economic growth.

“Voting against this garage is ludicrous, it’s nonsensical,” he said. “We are almost at the end, the fruition of our plans for downtown development. Why should we stop now?”