The Town of Culver’s now one step closer to building a new parking lot downtown. The Board of Zoning Appeals approved the required variances Thursday to let the project go ahead.
Specifically, they reduced the setback on the south side of the property to seven feet from the twenty normally required by Commercial C2 zoning. Plans had called for a one-foot setback but this was increased to seven after the owner of the neighboring property expressed concerns. The Town Council had approved rezoning the property to Commercial during its meeting Tuesday.
Town manager Jonathan Leist says the parking lot is a partnership with a local property owner, “Construction Management and Design and Alan Collins had originally come to the town with the proposal of splitting the cost to install a parking lot at that location. Collins owns a building on the other side of Main Street there and was interested in adding parking for that building as they have a new tenant coming in, probably in the next month or so.”
But now they say the need more money from the town, and Leist says the town now has some decisions to make, “I guess they weren’t aware of maybe one or two things, like the fencing that would be required and what we would require for lighting. The cost estimate has increased, and so the question I believe Redevelopment and Town Council both are considering is, ‘Do we still want to move forward with the project given an additional cost or is there a way we can bring some of that down closer to what we had budgeted?'”
The Redevelopment Commission will work toward a solution during its meeting Monday at 5 p.m.
