Milton officials not settled on new parking lot design

Milton Town Council is planning to hold a public workshop Thursday, June 12, on the design of a new parking lot to be located on town-leased land at the corner of Magnolia and Union streets.

Officials decided on a workshop dedicated solely to the parking lot design after council’s June 2 meeting, where members’ opinions ranged from liking the current plan and wanting to proceed to wanting to replace the engineer who came up with them. 

Engineer Sharon Cruz of Davis, Bowen and Friedel presented her second set of plans to council. The main difference is this version includes a sidewalk and a 5-foot grass strip near the curbline. The sidewalk was requested by Councilwoman Randi Meredith.

Cruz said the goal was to have a consistent sidewalk that avoided a utility pole; by adding the sidewalk and grass strip, Cruz said the number of parking spaces at the lot is reduced from 44 to 39. Cruz’s plans include 9-by-18-foot parking spaces, which are intended to maximize the parking and is in line with general parking space size throughout Sussex County. 

Cruz said she positioned the entrance and exit to the lot as far from the intersection of Union and Magnolia streets as possible. However, the plans show only a single entrance and exit.

Meredith continued to be skeptical about the plans, having problems with the sidewalk’s connections to Union Street, the lack of an entrance or exit onto Union Street and the potential for traffic backups due to the location of the entrance and exit on Magnolia Street.

“I’m not loving it,” she said.

When Cruz said further modifications would cause the loss of more parking spots, Meredith said, “The whole project is gaining parking spaces. We’re not losing parking spaces. We’re losing an idea. We should have this dialogue where we say, ‘What’s the most we can get while being the safest?”

Cruz defended her work saying the traffic flows around the lot in one direction except at the entrance and exit. 

“This concept, I don’t think it’s there,” Meredith said. “I don’t think it’s where we need it to be.”

On the other hand, Councilman Fred Harvey believed council should move forward with the plans, as they served as a good starting point that can further be refined.

Other council members still had some concerns but did not give an up or down endorsement of the plans. Mayor John Collier, among others on council, wondered whether the town should take a more holistic view of how to use the land, given that the town now owns the adjoining lot, planned for a future police station and municipal building. 

Vice Mayor Lee Revis-Plank, sensing council was unsettled on what direction to take, suggested the idea of a dedicated workshop to better hash out the town’s goals for the lot and how to proceed. Meredith suggested part of that discussion should include consideration of whether to change engineers. 

The town acquired the land by entering into a 10-year lease with Milton Historical Society to use the vacant lot for more parking. The first payments on the lease start this month, but Town Manager Kristy Rogers said council should not feel pressured to rush into something.

“If we need more time to flesh out conversations, I don’t think we’re at a detriment. This is an investment,” she said. “If there are more questions and comments, I’d rather see that now than a $200,000 investment that’s been wasted.”

Under terms of the lease, the town will pay $36,000 annually over the life of the lease, which would be for 10 years with an option to extend for five more years. Payments would be due by June 10 every year. The town will be responsible for installing the parking lot. In the past, the historical society had been reluctant to use that land for permanent parking, as the lot has had flooding problems. The town will also install signs for the lot. Collier has said the town has commitments from Rep. Stell Parker Selby, D-Milton, and Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, for $120,000 toward the cost of improvements at the lot.