LEWISTON — A new, 378-space Lincoln Street parking garage could go on hold while the city considers parking alternatives.

“I think we’re putting the cart before the horse here, building a garage before we know what else is going to happen in that area,” Councilor Stephen Morgan said. “All I do know is this is one of the key pieces of land in this city. Is it right to put a garage there? I just don’t know.”

Councilors discussed the garage at a workshop meeting Tuesday. The city opened bids to build it in January, and they have until March to accept one of those bids. The city has budgeted $5.8 million to pay for the structure and would break ground this spring if councilors agree.

The garage is part of an effort to increase parking spaces downtown as called for in a 2004 Bates Mill exit strategy with Platz
Associates. According to that agreement, the city must provide 1,162
parking spaces through 2011.

The city is behind schedule, according to the agreement. The city was supposed to begin work on the current garage in 2007, according to City Administrator Ed Barrett.

There is a penalty if the city falls too far behind: It could give up bonds and other mortgages totaling between $6 million and $7.8 million. That money would go to Platz Associates to build its own garages.

Platz Associates owner Tom Platz said he’s negotiating to provide office space for two groups, with as many as 400 employees. He needs parking to close those deals, he said.

That prompted Ward 1 Councilor John Butler to back the current plan.

“Time is an issue, and I feel we are under the gun,” Butler said. 

Mayor Larry Gilbert and Councilor Morgan said they’d rather give up space in some of the
city’s other parking garages than be forced into building a new one in
the shadow of the Bates Mill No. 5 building. 

Gilbert said the city could find alternatives to meet Platz’s quota. He offered Platz all of the parking spaces in the city’s 365-space Centreville garage.Tenants there, including Rep. Mike Michaud’s office, several law firms and other Lisbon Street businesses could find parking elsewhere, including the city’s Oak Street Parking lot.

The city could also build a temporary lot on the land where the Bates Mill 5 building stands, at the corner of Main and Canal streets, Gilbert said. That would cost the city $1.5 million to build, Barrett said.

Morgan said that sounded like a fair number.

“I would rather spend a million now and take our time and make the right decision,” Morgan said. “If we do it right, in 10 or 20 years, people might remember that. They might say, ‘They spent a million dollars, but they preserved something special.'”

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