{"id":15496,"date":"2025-11-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/city-of-durango-to-hold-off-on-feasibility-study-for-a-parking-garage\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:48:10","slug":"city-of-durango-to-hold-off-on-feasibility-study-for-a-parking-garage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/city-of-durango-to-hold-off-on-feasibility-study-for-a-parking-garage\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Durango to hold off on feasibility study for a parking garage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Durango
Durango City Council opted to remove a proposed parking garage feasibility study from the city\u2019s 2026 operating budget, citing current projects that could impact availability of parking spaces in downtown Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Durango City Council decided last week to forego a feasibility study into raising a parking structure in downtown Durango \u2013 at least for now.<\/p>\n

Councilors reasoned that money spent on a study \u2013 which is expected to cost about $50,000 \u2013 could be better spent elsewhere, and it would be more appropriate to gauge the downtown parking landscape after seeing how other major projects such as moving into a joint city hall and police department would impact parking.<\/p>\n

Councilor Kip Koso proposed removing the study from the city\u2019s 2026 operating budget, which his colleagues on the dais supported.<\/p>\n

He said the city doesn\u2019t have a \u201creal burning need\u201d for a parking garage or like structure, and it\u2019s possible the study would be outdated by the time the city has the revenue needed to begin construction.<\/p>\n

He suggested 100 planned parking spaces at the new city hall and police station at the historic high school building at 201 E. 12th St. \u2013 in combination with better way-finding signage and parking programs at the Durango Transit Center \u2013 would help downtown parking without requiring a multimillion dollar investment into a garage.<\/p>\n

Mayor Gilda Yazzie said a feasibility study would mark the beginning of another lengthy process and money sink.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be an amendment,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2018Oh, we didn\u2019t get it all done.\u2019 We\u2019ll do it again. \u2018Oh, then we need a design at 30%, 60%, 90%.\u2019 It just goes on and on. So I think it\u2019s a good idea to stop right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Transportation Director Sarah Hill said the city last conducted a parking structure feasibility study in 2009. Such a study, if approved by councilors, would look into potential locations for a structure and operating costs, although a 2023 parking management plan did not recommend the city pursue a parking garage at this time.<\/p>\n

When Durango City Council approved a resolution in September 2024 directing staff to complete the Downtown\u2019s Next Step design and get a construction cost estimate before moving any further with that project, councilors also expressed interest in learning how much a parking structure would cost to build.<\/p>\n

The Next Step project\u2019s current design iteration nets the city one parking space back out of 30 spaces lost to bump-outs when they are installed on Main Avenue in the spring through the fall, Hill said<\/p>\n

Councilor Jessika Loyer made that suggestion at the time. At the Nov. 18 meeting, she said she doesn\u2019t necessarily believe a parking structure is needed \u2013 but she also wants to her constituents who have parking concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want us to have a full picture as a council to approve things. So I want Next Steps to be designed and I want (a parking garage study) \u2013 how much is it going to cost, does it make sense \u2013 so council can make good decisions,\u201d she said, adding the city could pursue a feasibility study at a later time.<\/p>\n

Councilor Dave Woodruff agreed with Loyer \u2013 that there is a parking perception issue rather than an actual parking availability issue, and the city doesn\u2019t necessarily need a parking garage. But he also wants to listen to his constituents, particularly those who oppose the Next Step project and are concerned about parking.<\/p>\n

City staff members and some councilors have noted that the Transit Center parking lot often sits with many open parking spaces. Loyer said she parked at the Transit Center regularly throughout the summer and recorded a journal of parking availability.<\/p>\n

A comprehensive parking plan presented in 2022 showed 74% of on-street parking spaces are used during peak hours downtown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Councilors don\u2019t rule out revisiting concept in the future<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[314,950,1020,28,994],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-downtown-durango","tag-durango","tag-durango-city-council","tag-headlines","tag-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15496"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19687,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15496\/revisions\/19687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15496"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}