Drawing shows location and a possible design for the deck. Town Hall is at left, Main Street buildings at bottom, Jackson Street at top.

Town Board members got a glimpse Tuesday night of what a new downtown parking deck next to Town Hall might look like — if the town can figure out how to pay for it.

The structure could help ease a long-time parking crunch downtown, provide spaces for the 77x commuter bus and proposed commuter rail line, and allow for an expansion of retail business downtown, town Planning Director Kris Krider told the board. The plan, which is only preliminary, also could require relocating Davidson Farmers Market – possibly to the top level of the deck, he said.

The proposed 4-level deck would have at least 300 spaces as well as a possible attached retail and office building. The deck alone could cost more than $5 million to build. With the addition of the mixed-use building, the cost could top $7.5 million. The town currently has no money to build the project, though it has allocated $50,000 to hire an architect to develop a final design, Mr. Krider said.

The deck would replace two existing surface parking lots on town-owned land off Jackson Street that currently have 72 spaces.

Mr. Krider told the board the deck plan would address one of the board’s top goals this year: promoting and improving downtown. “We feel that this parking deck proposal is a very key component of our economic development strategy.”

COMMUTERS VS. BUSINESSES

Charlotte Area Transit System and others have also previously studied the feasibility of a parking deck on the site. CATS needs 50 spaces for commuter bus riders, and if the commuter rail line comes to Davidson, that would require about 150 spaces, CATS has said.

Board member Evan Webster wondered if the deck would really solve downtown’s long-term parking needs. He noted that 72 of the spaces would merely replace current ones, and those designated for CATS would account for more than half the new spaces.

“It would seem to me that if we’re talking about trying to intensify the retail up town and the commercial development up town, that we really should look at this parking deck predominantly as an augmentation of what we currently have to serve our current business population. This may or may not suffice for that,” Mr. Webster said.

He wondered if CATS might find space elsewhere, possibly on the other side of the proposed commuter rail station, which is beside the tracks along Jackson Street nearby.

Mr. Krider replied that CATS has been eyeing surface parking nearby. But the town also would be counting on CATS to help pay for the new deck.

FARMERS MARKET MOVE?

Mr. Krider and architect Tom Goodwin, of the Charlotte firm Shook Kelley, said the plan would affect the two-year-old Davidson Farmers Market. The market currently uses a portion of the proposed deck site, on town-owned land next to Town Hall.

Mr. Krider and Mr. Goodwin suggested the market might move to the top level of the parking deck, under a permanent canopy. But that idea appeared to get a lukewarm reaction from market supporters who came to the the meeting to hear about the idea.

Carol Harris Mayes, chair of the Davidson Farmers Market Committee, said supporters worry the change might affect the market atmosphere. “As far as the Farmers Market committee is concerned … we really feel like the Farmers Market every Saturday is really a vital community gathering place, and has become a real public space for the community in Davidson,” Ms. Mayes said.

“We would like to see that same feeling and that same atmosphere continue. A parking deck does not exactly speak that atmosphere to me,” she said.

Market Manager Mary Jane Leach said Wednesday market organizers hope to continue working with the town on the design, in hopes of keeping at least part of the market where it is right now.

“We are not entirely opposed to having the market in part on the deck,” Ms. Leach said in an interview. She said she’s not sure the market’s current size would fit under permanent canopies that were shown on the deck’s top level Tuesday night. “We think that having at least part of it down on the ground level would help with that. But honestly that picture we saw last night does not meet the needs of the market,” she said.

EXPANDED PUBLIC SPACE

Mr. Goodwin described how the deck might allow for an expansion of the public space in Knox Court, the area behind Main Street’s bank buildings, Main Street Books, and Summit Coffee.

The proposed multi-story retail and office building could generate revenue for the town to help pay for the deck, Mr. Krider said. And it would add to the attraction of Knox Court as a retail back alley behind Main Street.

Ms. Mayes suggested the market night be able to continue in its current location, especially if the alley space is enlarged. “I think especially with the expansion of the public space in between and in Knox Court, we would ask y’all to take a look at that to see if we can’t expand our market into that,” she said.

She also said potential future expansion of the market, both in the number of vendors and possibly the number of days, could make the parking deck a less desirable location. She asked that market supporters be part of future decision making.

“I think that we’re just at the beginning of dialog and would appreciate us being hand-in-glove in this discussion,” she said.

Mr. Krider said Ms. Mayes made “excellent points. … These are all ideas that are worthy of exploration.” But he added, “At some point in the game, we’re going to have to establish what our priorities are. At some point, it may be that parking is more important than the farmer market.”

IN SEARCH OF FUNDING

At least for now, it’s all just a discussion. The town has only $50,000 in the budget, which would pay for an architect to develop full plans for the deck. But beyond that, the town is still searching for funding.

Town officials have asked their Washington lobbyist to look for federal funding, both in departmental appropriations and the stimulus bills. And town officials also hope that CATS will contribute to the deck. Mr. Krider said CATS has money in its budget to pay for parking near commuter rail stations.

“In may ways we need them. Unless we go it alone, we’re going to need to find these funding partners, Mr. Krider said.

The town already has found one partner to help at no charge: Mr. Goodwin, the architect, is a Davidson resident, and donated his time to develop the drawings and an animated “fly-through” presented Tuesday night.