ALPENA — The City of Alpena and the Alpena Downtown Development Authority board have been trying to solve the parking issue downtown for many years. During Tuesday’s DDA meeting, Executive Director Anne Gentry said officials are considering construction of a new parking structure.

The idea is not a new one, but officials have never done a feasibility study. City Engineer Rich Sullenger estimates a new facility would likely cost about $2 million.

Gentry said the idea will continue to be discussed and DDA will work with its partners to see if a permanent structure is warranted.

“From now until next month’s meeting, we will be looking at how other downtown garages function,” Gentry said. “Are they public or private? We will also talk to Target Alpena to see what (officials have) heard from developers. Right now, we are just looking at our options.”

DDA member Jeff Mindock said there are no concrete plans for a new parking facility, but he acknowledged it has been talked about at committee meetings and things could be heating up.

“We want to do it right,” Mindock said. “We don’t want to have an idea that is floating in the air. If we are going to do it, we want to do it right.”

Gentry said one of the biggest concerns downtown business owners have is that there is little curbside parking near their storefronts and, often, employees or other people park in those slots for hours at a time. There are nearly 2,000 parking stalls downtown, but few near popular stores and restaurants.

Gentry said parking meters could help to solve that problem.

Gentry said parking becomes an issue at different times of the day and and on different days of the week. She said parking is also an issue during downtown events. Those concerns and many others need to be considered when deciding if a garage is needed, she said.

“You see between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. that there are very limited spaces, and when people want to run in and grab a quick lunch or something, they have to park farther away,” she said. “The question is, are people who have a half-hour lunch going to park farther away, or just drive by and go somewhere else?”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.

In other business

The Alpena Downtown Development Authority board on Tuesday also:

∫ added Griffin James to the board, increasing number of members to 11; the minimum number the board can have is eight and the maximum is 12.

∫ heard that the annual Chowder and Chili Cookoff happens from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday downtown; tickets are $10.

∫ heard that the DDA is working with Thunder Bay Theatre for a special event downtown and more details will be released soon.