City planners will be studying the feasibility for a proposed new parking ramp that would be centrally located between the two hospitals, Medcenter One and Saint Alexius.
Construction of a new facility to house the UND School of Medicine next to Medcenter One, which had been located inside the Parkade, helped spark the need for this new ramp.
Building a new parking ramp that would be central to both hospitals seems logical, but there are several questions that need to be addressed before proceding with this project.
Parking is certainly a major problem for the hospitals, no doubt about it, and is continuing to get worse as time passes. Recently, Saint Alexius purchased several nearby homes to be demolished for additional parking.
First of all, taxpayers are probably wondering just how much will tax dollars contribute to its construction?
A reasonable argument to support tax dollars paying for its construction would be… that the City needs to provide support to its two largest private employers. It also could help the existing parking issues in downtown.
And yet, a reasonable argument against tax dollars paying for this project would be… why should tax payers face the burden of funding a project for two profitable, private entities?
Both are good points.
Another question to be answered is how this affects the other downtown ramp that was supposed to have started construction this year, which was delayed by the pending TIF lawsuit, in which Medcenter was supposed to lease a large chunk of the spaces.
If approved, will the City now be fronting the costs for two new parking ramps?
The construction of a shared parking ramp for the two hospitals should greatly reduce the need for another new parking ramp in the core of downtown as it would lessen the burden on the existing parking ramps, where Medcenter One currently leases spaces.
I will wait until I hear more details before officially backing or opposing this proposed project. However, I do see the potential for an opportunity that would benefit both the hospitals and downtown.
