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Danville town officials and local dignitaries gathered Monday morning at the northwest corner of Rose Street and East Linda Mesa Avenue, to usher in the opening of a new, 78-space municipal parking lot with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Construction on the $1.8 million project — including design and construction costs — began in July and officially concluded last weekend.
With the holiday shopping season gearing up, the lot is now open for use — free of charge, as Mayor Renee Morgan reiterated several times throughout the ceremony. The public spots do have a three-hour limit.
“This is something that’s just in time for the holidays,” Morgan said. “It is something that we can consider our north parking lot just off of Hartz. It’s a great location and it offers 78 spaces to our residents as well as people who love to visit our community.”
Town Manager Joe Calabrigo said that downtown parking has always been a hot topic in Danville. Over the past 25 years, he said, Danville has added about 800 spaces.
“Parking is the lifeblood of business,” he said, after the ceremony.
Planning for the Rose Street parking lot began in 2005, according to Calabrigo. The project had involved acquiring three separate pieces of land, and a land exchange with a nearby property owner.
The project was funded through capital improvement program general purpose revenues, the civic facilities fund and downtown parking in-lieu fees.
“As with all investments, the town has made this municipal lot the product of careful planning,” Morgan said. “Placed in an area of downtown to stimulate private development and yet tucked just behind our main street, so as not to distract from its pedestrian charm.”
Aside from parking spaces, the Rose Street project includes brick-banded sidewalks, street trees, curb bulb-outs, decorative crosswalks, bioretention storm water treatment, asphalt concrete roadway rehabilitation, LED parking lot lights and overhead conversion to underground utilities, according to town officials.
Other town-funded parking projects are also in the works, including the Village Theatre municipal parking lot expansion project, the Sycamore Valley park and ride lot expansion project, and, in partnership with the school district, the San Ramon Valley High School parking lot — a combined total of 500 additional parking spaces.
At the conclusion of her speech and right before the ceremonial ribbon-cutting, Morgan added that the new lot offered a prime location for anyone attending Danville’s tree lighting ceremony on Friday.