Milan DDA Discusses Plans for New Parking Lot in Southeast Quadrant

The big issue on the agenda for the Milan Downtown Development Authority board Monday night was the concept plan for the Wabash Parking Lot that, if funded, will totally transform the current parking lot located behind the businesses on the southeast corner of Wabash and E. Main streets.

The board heard from City Administrator Ben Swayze on the progress of the plan.

Swayze told the board that the only large components that remain to be taken into account in the blueprint for the project are the Dumpster corral location and design and the type of lighting to be selected for the parking lot.

“The planner suggests that a centrally located area for a main Dumpster would be more attractive and convenient,” Swayze said. “The thinking for the lighting is to go with LED [light emitting diode] lights. They are ‘greener’ because they use less energy. The planner is still researching the design for the Dumpster containment area.”

Board Vice Chairman Tom Preston questioned whether entrances and aisles had been designed to accommodate the waste-hauling trucks that would be servicing the dumpsters.

“We need to make sure that the dumpster trucks can get in and out easily,” he said, “and have we thought about the possibility of having the ability of partitioning the stalls for the farmers’ market with temporary plastic sheeting with roofs of the same material. I always believed that a farmers’ market would draw a lot of people downtown.”

Swayze said that the design will accommodate the trucks and that steel sleeves in the pavement for inserting framing tubes for the plastic sheeting could be incorporated into the plans.

Swayze said that he has spoken to the property owners that would be affected by the new parking lot and there is great interest in the project among them. He also said that benches and picnic tables had been budgeted for the plan, as well as two picnic shelters.

Chairman Robert Creal asked about the timeline for the final plans.

“When can we expect to see the final plan and begin the process of funding and constructing?” asked Creal.

Swayze said the plan was mostly completed but that there was some fine-tuning to do, including consideration of the current input from the DDA.

“We hope to officially adopt the final plan in March and then start applying for grants and begin formal meetings with property owners to purchase the necessary property. There are inducements for the sale of the small plots involved, including tax advantages for donating them to the city.”

Board member Theresa Snyder said that she hoped that the plan called for consolidating or burying the many utility wires and getting rid of the supporting poles that contribute to the visual clutter in the current parking lot.

“That will be taken into consideration,” Swayze said. “I suspect that some of the wires are no longer in service. For now, we are getting your input on what should be included in the plan.”

Clearing the downtown sidewalks of snow was an item of interest under New Business on the agenda.

Some board members own downtown businesses and had the item of snow clearance placed on the agenda at the request of other downtown business owners. The contested issue between the businesses and the city is what to do with the snow that is cleared from the sidewalks.

Swayze said that the solution is imperfect but snow should be pushed to the curb but not into the street and the city will remove the snow in the very early morning hours within 24 hours of the last snowfall.

“I know this presents an inconvenience but there is an ordinance against pushing it into the street,” he said. “The city will remove the snow by either pushing it into the middle of the street and salting it or in extreme cases, we will come in with front end loaders and take it away in trucks.”

Swayze said that in most cases the snow can be pushed to the middle of the street in the early hours and salted.

“It is usually gone in about two hours when we use that method,” he said.

New board officers were nominated for 2011. Creal was nominated as chairman, Preston as vice chairman, and Kim Muckler, who was absent, was nominated as secretary. The board voted unanimously for the entire slate.

Creal told members to be thinking about possible candidates for a vacant seat on the board. The DDA will consider any candidate with an interest in the betterment of the downtown area. Prospective board members may get more information by calling Chairman Creal at (734) 439-1223 or Mayor Muckler at (734) 439-1501.

The next meeting of the DDA will be Monday, Feb. 21, at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.