Temporary cuts in downtown parking concern business owners

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - Plans to renovate the parking garage on Main Street are in the works. But there are concerns about what the decrease in parking spaces could mean for downtown Rapid City businesses.

Friday morning Rapid City’s community development and public works departments heard concerns about how renovations to the downtown parking structure would affect the community. Many of the people in attendance were business owners who were concerned about the timeline for the renovations, as construction was projected to start in mid-November.

“All times of year we need parking downtown and to do a project like this it would take parking spaces away in the garage in the peak of the holiday season. We just wanted to see if we could get that changed and it sounds like they are considering that option,” said Clancy Kingsbury, the owner of Who’s Hobby House which is located downtown.

The renovations are expected to be completed in phases. And the first phase requires the complete closure of the parking garage for eight weeks.

“Aside from the primary, we’ll call it phase one area where we have to shut the garage down for a period of time, the rest of the repairs we are essentially looking to do on kind of a quadrant basis on each floor,” said Stephen Kilber, a project engineer with Albertson Engineering.

“I can’t speak for all business owners downtown, but we all know that the parking garage is in need of repair. We want to see that done, in the end, it’s going to be a much better facility, safer all of those things,” said Kingsbury.

Despite the temporary inconvenience the renovations may pose for downtown businesses and members of the community, the renovated parking garage will offer more safety and security for the public.

Copyright 2022 KOTA. All rights reserved.