Parking Garage Design Contract on Committee Agenda

The Millburn Township Committee doesn't have a long agenda Tuesday night, but there is one item that will provoke a lot of discussion—the contract for conceptual designs for a downtown parking garage.

The committee meets at 8 p.m. at Millburn Town Hall. There is an agenda item to hire Tim Haahs to complete the conceptual designs of a garage on either Lot 2, which is at the corner of Lackwanna Place and Essex Street, or Lot 7, which is along Glen Avenue, for the Millburn Train Station. The contract is not to exceed nearly $105,000.

The contract is for phase one of the design process, which is for conceptual designs. The conceptual designs are 10 percent of the completed designs. The request for proposals document states the phase one designs should include a preliminary site plan, preliminary grading drainage plan, architectual floor plans and ramps, investigation of the feasibility of including ground floor retail space and a conceptual design for a new pedestrian bridge if the garage is built on Lot 2. There also would need to be a traffic study.

The request for proposal document states the garage at Lot 2 would be for 450 cars with four levels. The one at Lot 7 would be for 360 cars over four levels. A four-level garage is three stories.

The township committee has been examining how to add more commuter parking at the train stations, citing the need to end the valet parking at the Millburn Train Station. Officials have said the valet parking was meant to be a temporary solution. There hasn't been a decision on which lot the garage should be built or even if a garage should be built at all.

But there have been . There are residents who have said there is no need for a parking garage. The Glen Avenue and Cape Court area residents have said if the township intends to build a garage, it should be at Lot 2 away from thier neighborhood. The business community, , has said they would prefer the garage on Lot 7.