A 100-day renovation of the Clark Street Parking Garage will begin this fall.

On the plus side, there are enough vacant spaces in the garage that no one who uses the ramp now will have to make new parking arrangements. And, city officials made what we think is the right decision in adding a contingency fund to the project so that, ideally, if something unforeseen comes up contractors can simply deal with it rather than wait for the council’s approval. Everyone wants this rehabilitation project to finish by next spring both to make sure grant funding for the project doesn’t expire and so that the ramp is ready for the summer season.

The downside is the repairs buy the city roughly 10 years of use – perhaps more, perhaps less – while paying for the half of the project that isn’t grant funded with a 15-year loan. Of course, the 10-year increase in life span doesn’t mean the ramp will cave in on itself in 2035. The ramp should be usable for the duration of the city’s loan for this project.

But we should all acknowledge that this $3.3 million project is a band-aid. Even with this year’s rehabilitation, we know the Clark Street Parking Garage will continue to deteriorate. That’s what happens with parking ramps in the northeast. This set of repairs may represent the tipping point at which it makes no financial sense to keep patching this garage. Council members and city officials have raised that very thought when discussing the Clark Street Parking Garage this year.

A bigger bill for this facility is coming, potentially as soon as 2035. No one in the community should have sticker shock when the next bill comes due for the Clark Street Parking Garage – whether it’s repairs or for a new garage. Finances led us to patch the garage this year. A patch may not work in 2035 or beyond.