APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – A new parking structure could be coming to downtown Appleton.
The city’s common council recently signed off on having Walker Parking Consultants conduct a $38,400 parking study of its bluff site area.
“Figure out how the best way to maximize the number of stalls we can get in that space at the most cost-effective rate. That may end up being a combination of above and below ground parking.”
City Spokesman Chad Doran notes one of the parking ramps in that area has reached the end of its useful life.
“The Solider Square Parking Ramp needs to come down in the next couple of years so there is a need for additional parking in that area. With this potentially being an area for building a ramp, prior to the Soldier Square ramp coming down, that really alleviates an immediate need for more parking space, and it also gives us more capacity for the future.”
Doran says the city is open to ways of keeping costs down on constructing the new ramp.
“A combination of some retail, possibly, on the first floor and a ramp above that to help pay for the ramp itself.”
No word on a project timeline.
Doran notes the city is responsible for providing downtown parking since that’s not a requirement for businesses in their agreements with the municipality.
He says the Blue Ramp, which is behind the City Center, is also scheduled to come down in the near future.
That project is scheduled for 2019.
