Butler County officials continue to review ways to find enough parking spaces for the new Butler County Prison, including a proposed level lot at the intersection of West Cunningham and Bluff streets.

Needing a total of 92 parking spaces for the new prison, the county already has space for 39 stalls on the site where the Craftsmen-Ziegler Printing building was torn down.

Building a lot on West Cunningham Street next to the new prison, where District Judge Pete Shaffer's office stands, will net 45 or 46 more spaces, leaving the county to come up with fewer than 10 others to reach 92.

County Commissioner Dale Pinkerton, board chairman, said the lot is one way to proceed.

"We are reviewing other options," he said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Pinkerton said he does not like alternatives that involve tearing down existing homes.

"The city has lost enough tax revenue," he said.

Pinkerton said the commissioners have not yet set a deadline to select a parking option.

If the county pursues the Cunningham Street lot, it now has the city's clearance to do so.

The city zoning hearing board Tuesday granted a variance permitting the prison parking lot to have smaller spaces than the minimum size required by the city.

Under city zoning, a parking space cannot be smaller than 180 square feet. The variance allows it to be 162 square feet.

Dave Johnston, county planning director, said the stall size will shrink from 10-by-18 feet to 9-by-18 feet, but the aisle width will remain at 24 feet.

Johnston said the prison lot would match the size of most of the existing parking lots in the city.

"If anything, it will help with the parking problems that do exist in there now," he said.

Former Mayor Leonard Pintell and Karen Grabbe, zoning hearing board alternate members, on Tuesday approved the variance, saying it wouldn't be a problem for the city.

Regular zoning hearing board members Mike Preston, Kent Brown and Bob Dandoy could not attend the hearing.

"The city is very anxious to work with the county," Pintell said. "I personally believe the variance would not be detrimental to the city."

John Evans, city zoning officer, had no objections to the county's request.

There was no public comment during the hearing.

The city in 2004 granted a previous zoning variance to the county allowing fewer total parking stalls than the required 191.

Johnston said in an interview the city's zoning doesn't account for facilities such as prisons, so the county prison fell under the same category as hospitals, which requires much more parking.

"The prisoners aren't going to drive," he said.