Milton council awards bid for parking lot project

Work on a new parking lot to be built on town-leased land at the corner of Magnolia and Union streets in Milton is set to get under way after Milton Town Council unanimously approved a $149,000 bid by Frankford-based HCE Site Maintenance during its April 6 meeting.

Town Manager Kristy Rogers said the project is scheduled to be completed by Memorial Day. Once the notice to proceed is given, the town’s contract specifies that HCE will have 21 calendar days to complete the project.

Milton officials have been seeking to build the new lot for more than a year as a way to ease parking concerns downtown. In June 2025, the council settled on a design that would include more than 40 9-by-18-foot parking spaces plus a sidewalk, with the entrance and exit to the lot on Magnolia Street.

The town acquired the land adjacent to the Lydia Cannon Museum by entering into a 10-year lease with Milton Historical Society to use the vacant lot for more parking. Under terms of the lease, the town will pay $36,000 annually, and it also has an option to extend the lease for five years. Payments are due by June 10 every year. The town will be responsible for installing the parking lot and will include signage. In the past, the historical society had been reluctant to use that land for permanent parking, as the lot has had flooding problems. 

Rogers said the town received a $120,000 commitment from Milton’s state legislative delegation – then-Rep. Stell Parker Selby, her replacement Rep. Alonna Berry and Sen. Russ Huxtable – for the project, but since the land was not yet a dedicated public use, those funds were used to pay for repaving streets affected by the town’s recent water main replacement. The town reserve funds that had been budgeted for the street repaving were reassigned to cover the parking lot project. Rogers said the town has budgeted the additional $29,000 that will be used to finish the parking lot.