By Sam Wildow
TROY — The city of Troy’s 90-day moratorium on new surface parking lots has ended, and this week, the Troy City’s Council Community and Economic Development Committee met to discuss any future actions related to the moratorium on the construction of parking lots in the historic downtown.
The Troy City Council first approved the 90-day moratorium in November, along with a 180-day moratorium on new demolition permits for the Historic District.
“We have gone past the 90 days, so currently, there is no moratorium in place, and during that time period, the council was asked to review studies on parking in the downtown,” Chairperson Jeffrey Schilling of the Community and Economic Development Committee said. City staff previously identified at least five studies that have been done since 1960 to assess the adequacy of and/or document parking downtown.
During the committee’s meeting this week, Schilling suggested taking the approach of looking at ways to prohibit single-level parking lots through the city zoning and only allowing parking lots after they have been approved by the council, such as through an Historic District Overlay application.
Lynne Snee, one of the other committee members, said she did not think there was anything for the committee and the council to do at this point. The third committee member, Samuel Pierce, also did not recommend moving forward with looking at ways to restrict the construction of single-level parking lots in the zoning code. Council member Bobby Phillips, who was not on the committee but was present at the meeting, also suggested that might be too restrictive.
Director of Public Service and Safety Patrick Titterington said this moratorium was introduced due to uncertainty regarding the building located at 112-118 W. Main St., also referred to as the IOOF or tavern building.
At the time the moratorium was passed, Titterington said a “surface parking was not an issue” for that location because the Planning Commission had rejected a parking lot proposed for the spot, and the Board of Zoning Appeals later added stipulation that the site had to be replaced with another building if it got torn down. The future of that building is currently being determined in Miami County Common Pleas Court after local entities, including neighbors to that structure and the Troy Historic Preservation Alliance, filed a civil complaint against the owner of the building and the Troy Board of Zoning Appeals to prevent its demolition.
Both Schilling and Titterington said they were not aware of any parking lots being considered for construction in the city that would be the principal permitted use of the property.
The committee and city staff discussed parking needs in the downtown, and committee members discussed the interest in developing a multi-level parking structure. Titterington said the city plans to update the assessment and look at the demand for a parking garage in the future, such as through doing an analysis in 2024.
“We’ve not heard any pressing demands to accelerate that, nor can we recommend that to you given the current state of affairs with the capital program and inflationary challenges,” Titterington said.
Schilling said one of the city’s past parking lot studies recommended the city get 100 new parking spaces added to the downtown within the next 10 years.
“If we don’t look at a parking structure, what are we going to tear down to get those 100 spots?” Schilling said. He added later that the city doesn’t have any extra land in downtown Troy to add this parking lot.
Titterington said the parking may not need to be added in the central area of downtown, suggesting the city could look at the east side of South Market Street.
“The demand for parking right in the middle of everything may not be as great,” Titterington said about what the downtown could be like in three to four years from now.
The discussion returned to what the council could do at this point. Snee said, “The original reason for our moratorium doesn’t exist at this point.” Later on, Snee also added, “I’m just not seeing this rise to the level of a concern that would cause multiple changes to the zoning code.” Titterington added that changes to the zoning code could impact the rest of the city and not just the downtown.
The committee meeting ended when members Snee and Pierce recommended not going forward.
