A group of city business owners is petitioning against the parking authority’s decision not to build a parking garage as part of the Centre City project.

The authority on Sept. 24 decided to build a 75-space surface lot instead of a 225-space parking garage because of the cost of the garage.

Authority treasurer Jeff Smith estimated the surface lot would cost about $450,000 — about one-tenth the price of the parking garage.

However, the surface lot would be only for the project’s proposed Marriott Springhill Suites hotel and its guests, leaving businesses in the neighborhood wondering where their customers will park.

“Existing businesses and property owners are concerned this will be detrimental to businesses and their tenants,” said Chelynne Curci, the Main Street Manager for Butler Downtown.

Curci’s nonprofit group is leading the petition for the group of business owners that will present it to city officials.

“We were approached to serve as the collection point,” Curci said. “We feel it’s a good way to have a collective voice.”

Russ Hearn, owner of two buildings at 138 and 140 E. Jefferson St., is one of the organizers of the petition.

“We started to distribute it today,” Hearn said Friday. “We’re going door-to-door.”

The petition demands that the parking authority fully fund and build a parking garage as part of the Centre City project, which also includes a Rite Aid Pharmacy under construction on Main Street.

Hearn said he hopes to circulate the petition around the entire downtown.

“It’s going to be an effort,” he said.

The block of the Centre City project previously had three parking lots totaling nearly 200 spaces for public use. The spaces were set to be replaced by the parking garage, which would be open to both hotel guests and the public.

Decision was financial

Smith said there was little choice but to go with the surface lot. He said the authority cannot risk the city’s financial future to please business owners near the proposed garage.

“The city has an obligation to its 13,000 residents to be fiscally responsible with their tax dollars,” Smith said. “I’ve yet to hear from any residents who are not pleased with the action of the parking authority.”

The authority said the decision to not build the garage was all financial.

Smith estimated at the authority’s meeting that the $4.5 million parking garage would leave the authority with a $100,000 per year deficit over a 20-year bond that the authority would need to make up through a citywide parking rate increase and other measures.

Meanwhile, the proposed surface lot would bring in about $15,000 in revenue to the authority.

The authority maintains it still intends to replace about 100 of those spaces through the addition of other surface lots in the area, but businesses are skeptical of whether that space exists.

“The authority is constantly looking at the parking needs of the city,” Smith said.

Smith said it is hard for the authority to say where exactly it is looking for additional parking without hurting its ability to negotiate.

Are other lots available?

Curci said parking is a vital part of attracting businesses to a city. She said there is a strong concern that the authority is not replacing the needed parking previously offered on the block.

“Parking needs to be made up somewhere, and it has to be within a reasonable distance,” she said.

Curci said she doesn’t know where the parking authority could replace the tier garage with additional lots, specifically near the Centre City project.

“The further from Main Street parking gets, the less likely it is to be used,” she said.

A possible lot is diagonal from the site of the proposed hotel at the corner of East Jefferson and South McKean streets. The only problem is it is not for sale.

The Butler School District owns the about 70-space lot and uses it as a play area in the warm months and for faculty parking in the winter.

Superintendent Dale Lumley said the authority has not talked with the district about using the lot.

“No, it’s not available,” Lumley said, adding the school already must lease extra spaces for its faculty in the warm months to make room for a play area for the students.

Another 35-space lot is at the corner of East Jefferson and South Cedar streets. It is owned by the law firm Zunder and Associates. A representative of the firm did not return a call requesting comment on whether the authority has asked about the lot.

The Rev. Merry Meloy, the pastor at the Saint Andrews United Presbyterian Church, said the loss of parking is a big problem for her church at the corner of East Jefferson and South McKean streets.

“We have a great concern,” she said. “We really used the parking that was across the street from us very heavily. We were already trying to figure out how to manage during the construction period, but this really puts us in a hard place.”

Meloy said hundreds of people go through the church’s doors each week, whether for its weekend service, its weekly community dinner, or for its other programs.

“Those people need parking,” she said. “Nobody wants to walk three blocks, especially in bad weather. Our older members just can’t.”

Meloy said members of the church also are not happy about the parking situation.

“They’re all very concerned,” she said.

Meloy said she hopes to consult with city officials to voice her concerns.

Cheryl Stoner, owner of Snipz Hair Design, said she was upset about the decision not to build the parking garage.

Stoner said she moved to the East Cunningham Street building last year after spending two decades elsewhere in the city.

“I was thinking about buying this building,” she said. “Why would I want to do that now?”

Stoner said her customers have been complaining about parking since construction on the Rite Aid began earlier this year.

“It’s so frustrating,” she said. “Every customer comes in and complains about parking.”

Redevelopment authority could help

Authority Chairman Jim Chiprean said he sympathized with the business owners.

“As a businessman, I’d sign that petition myself,” said Chiprean, who is president of Miller’s Shoes on Main Street.

Chiprean said the city redevelopment authority should take more of a role in finding a solution to the parking problem.

“They actually owe us 120 spaces,” he said, referencing the lots the parking authority gave up for the project. “But naturally they don’t have any money to pay us back.”

Chiprean said he wishes the parking authority could build a deck in the spot.

“I’d still like to build a deck if money becomes available,” he said. “There’s just no money to do it. Without the backing of mayor and council, I can’t take that bond issue.”

Smith also said the authority understands the importance of parking to businesses.

“I understand why businesses like to have parking,” he said. “And it’s always nice when someone else is paying for it. But that someone else is our 13,000 residents.”

Smith agreed with Chiprean in saying that the city redevelopment authority should shoulder more of the criticism surrounding the parking garage.

“It’s unfortunate the businesses are upset with the parking authority,” he said. “If they’re going to be upset with anyone, they should be upset with the redevelopment authority for putting together a plan and not taking into account who was going to pay for it.”

Smith said the city redevelopment authority, which will be a 40 percent owner of the hotel, pushed the project along without offering full details of the plans to the city or the parking authority until late in the process.

Smith said the parking authority needs to be fiscally responsible so that it does not end up like the redevelopment authority, which is unable to pay for the Penn Theater and Kelly Automotive Park.

“If the parking authority didn’t show some fiscal restraint, it would be in the same position with a parking garage it can’t afford,” he said. “It would be another redevelopment authority project with no long term fiscal plan.”

Art Cordwell, the executive director of the redevelopment authority, did not return calls for comment on Thursday. The redevelopment authority is not open Fridays.

Smith said the risk of laying the financial burden of a parking garage on the city’s taxpayers is detrimental to the growth in Butler.

“While having a vibrant downtown is important, the future of Butler will be determined on whether we fill our neighborhoods with single family residences,” he said. “That is what will really turn the city around. And if that happens, downtown will benefit.”