Traverse City Downtown Development Authority (DDA) board members gave every indication Friday they’re finally ready to vote on August 16 to approve a new tax increment financing (TIF) 97 plan – albeit without a proposed third downtown parking deck. The new TIF plan must still go to city commissioners for approval, and Mayor Amy Shamroe warned that commissioners would likely reject the deck from the plan if included. Several DDA board members felt parking remains a pressing challenge downtown, however – one that will now be in commissioners’ court to solve as the city prepares to take over parking from the DDA.

Discussion on the new TIF 97 plan, called Moving Downtown Forward, stretches back to 2019, according to DDA Executive Director Harry Burkholder. He shared a timeline with board members Friday outlining a detailed process over the last several years – including extensive DDA debate and public engagement – to create a plan to extend TIF 97, which expires in 2027. Finalizing the Moving Downtown Forward plan has been hampered by a range of factors including the pandemic, the search for a new DDA executive director, and two proposed charter amendments aimed at TIF being placed on the ballot this fall.
 
Split opinions over whether to include a long-discussed third downtown public parking deck have also loomed over discussions. Estimates this spring for the proposed mixed-use development on State Street included a 534-space parking deck ($32.4 million) and two mixed-use buildings featuring a combination of retail space and rental apartments (more than $33 million for both buildings, with additional expenses for site and utility work). Shamroe said that when talking to critics of Moving Downtown Forward, the parking deck typically stands out as the most objectionable aspect of the plan. “This is just not a popular idea,” she said, adding that if DDA board members tried to include it, commissioners would likely take it out.

DDA Vice Chair Scott Hardy has lobbied hard for including the deck, saying downtown businesses have been counting on the DDA to add more parking. “Everyone’s that invested in the west end is feeling the pain today,” he said. Hardy said that without adequate parking, downtown would lose more and more customers over time. “The problem we’re going to face with the locals in this community is they’re just not going to come...they’re just going to avoid downtown because of the access issues,” he said. However, Hardy said he didn’t want to force the issue if it meant commissioners would reject either the deck or Moving Downtown Forward overall. “I’m willing to accept that’s a reality,” he said. “I don’t want to win the battle and lose the war.”

The majority of DDA board members appeared to support leaving the deck out and voting on August 16 to approve Moving Downtown Forward and send it to commissioners. The DDA and city have spent millions of dollars in recent years to accumulate several parcels to build the planned deck. That property could potentially be used for surface parking for now, Burkholder said, and would be available in the future if public or commission sentiment changed to support building a deck. DDA board member Pete Kirkwood predicted that parking demand will grow acute enough downtown that there will be “a popular groundswell” in the future for a deck, versus being perceived as a top-down project coming from the DDA today.

If that does eventually happen, it’ll be up to city commissioners to address that issue, not the DDA. The city is in the process of taking over parking after three decades of DDA management. “Ultimately this is your problem or opportunity,” Hardy to Shamroe, referring to the city commission. Shamroe agreed, noting that parking is “going to be a new reality that city commissioners are not as used to being in the weeds on.” DDA board member Ed Slosky said he hoped the city might have more resources – better access to financial analysts, more funding tools, the ability to include mobility options supported by the city’s new Mobility Action Plan – to look at the deck in a new way or explore other alternatives. Parking moving from the DDA to the city could “expand our horizons with what potential solutions would be,” Slosky said.

DDA Transportation Mobility Director Nicole VanNess gave an update Friday on the parking transition. A ransomware attack that hobbled both Grand Traverse County and city operations slowed down the process, VanNess said, but staff and consultants are working now on the network, IT, website, employee/HR, and city/DDA service agreement changes needed to move parking over to the city. Parking policies are being consolidated into a resolution to be adopted by city commissioners and will be reviewed ahead of that vote in a study session. She said the goal is for the transition to be complete by September 30.