AUBURN – A land swap clearing the way for a Great Falls Plaza parking garage goes before councilors tonight.

The latest plan would give developer Tom Platz about 0.94 acres in the plaza, including the back corner, north of The Esplanade and east of the access road.

The city would get about 0.93 acres of land near the middle of the property. The city plans to build a parking garage on the site.

Councilors are scheduled to vote on a resolve letting City Manager Pat Finnigan negotiate the swap.

Councilors approved the initial land swap with Platz’s GFP Development Group last April. Finnigan said tonight’s action is an extension of the 2005 decision.

“Last year, they gave me the approval to work out the details with the developer, with the understanding that we would bring it back before them when we were ready,” she said.

Platz plans to build at least one office building in the plaza. The original site plan called for putting Platz’s new office building on the corner of Great Falls Plaza and Turner Street, and the city’s parking garage behind the Esplanade. Councilors approved $5 million in debt to build the garage in 2004.

Finnigan said she expects Platz to begin work on his office building this summer. Work on the parking garage won’t begin until the spring of 2007.

“We’ve had other things to work on, so the land swap wasn’t actually a priority,” she said. “But now, we’re heading into a new construction cycle and we need to wrap this up.”

In other business, the City Council is scheduled decide whether it wants to hire the International Association of Assessing Officers to review the city’s property revaluation.