LEWISTON – Councilors want some assurances that they’ll get to hold onto a downtown parking lot if they pay to pave it.

The City Council tabled a plan to lease the lot between Lincoln Street and Simard/Payne Park – formerly Railroad Park – from the Lewiston Auburn Railroad to build a 46-space parking lot.

At issue was a clause in the lease that would let either the city or the railroad’s board of directors cancel the lease with a year’s notice.

“If we pay $150,000 to pave this, what’s to stop the railroad from coming back and taking it over?” Council President Tom Peters asked.

Peters suggested adding a clause saying the lease could be canceled if land was going to used to bring rail service downtown.

City Administrator Jim Bennett said he would bring that suggested change to the railroad’s board, but said he doubted there would be a problem. The majority of members of the board are appointed by the Lewiston council.

“I wouldn’t dream of signing a contract like this, unless it was with a group like the railroad board, that we essentially control,” Peters said.

According to the lease, the city would pay the Lewiston Auburn Railroad Company 10 percent of parking fees generated there – about $246 per month according to the going rate for downtown parking.

For that, the city will get the land and the right to use it for a minimum of five years. The lot is unpaved now, but the city will spend about $150,000 to pave it for parking.

It’s part of a drive to bring more parking spaces downtown as called for in a 2004 Bates Mill exit strategy. According to that agreement, the city would need to provide 1,850 parking spaces through 2011 – and no more than 450 spaces per year.

The Canal Street parking garage added 369 new parking spaces downtown and a parking deck across the street from the Chestnut Street garage brought in another 160 parking spaces.

Bennett said that adding a small surface parking lot like one planned for the railroad land makes sense. They are less expensive to build and maintain and can be grouped with other small lots as an alternative to building another parking garage.

But Councilors Larry Poulin and Bob Reed disagreed.

“I don’t think this saves us a penny,” Reed said. “It just defers the cost a few years. We’re still going to have to spend money to build another parking garage. We just get to put it off for a few years. And in the meantime, we’ve spent $150,000. So, we don’t save anything.”