W hile Mayor Lisa Borowsky and others continue to fight the concept, the city is hosting a public meeting on an Old Town parking garage. The meeting at 8:30 a.m. May 22, at the Civic Center Library Auditorium “will kick off the design process for the Brown Avenue Parking Structure Expansion,” according to a release. The project will expand the city-owned parking structure at First Street and Brown Avenue by adding two levels of parking. “Participants at the meeting can meet the project team, learn more about the process and share elements they would like to see in the upgraded structure,” the city said. Some have expressed anger that construction will displace the Old Town Farmers Market, which takes over “the Corral” parking lot at First and Brown on Saturdays. The group Citizens for Preserving Our History has placed ads in the Progress and elsewhere warning the three-story structure “will obscure the historic Old Adobe Mission,” displace a farmers market and generally wreck the Old Town vibe. According to the city, the farmers market will continue here through the 2026 season, when construction preparations on the site are expected to begin. According to the release, “The city is working with the Old Town Farmer’s Market to identify a new location in Old Town where it can continue to operate after this project begins.” In the 2019 bond election, voters approved Project No. 63 “Build Parking Structures in Old Town Scottsdale.” On July 1, 2024, the City Council directed staff to proceed with the addition of two levels to this existing parking structure. On Feb. 11, the City Council approved a contract for design and construction – despite Borowsky’s plea to “give me more time to find a better location.” She slammed a tentative design as a “monstrosity.” According to the contract approved by a 6-1 vote, design work will take place for the rest of 2025 and a second public meeting will be held later this year to review design concepts. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in the summer of 2026.
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