Old Fire Station First Step in Solving Denton's Parking Problems

City leaders in Denton hope an old eyesore will help them start to solve their downtown parking problems.

On Tuesday, crews will tear down the old Central Fire Station near St. Andrew Church to create a 90 to 100 space parking lot for the downtown area. The city council approved the plan after years of plans for the spot fell through.

City Manager John Cabrales said the fire station had to be abandoned about 14 years ago when an underground water spring beneath it was discovered to be causing dangerous black mold growth in the building. As a result, Cabrales said attempts to do anything else with the building have proven very expensive and impractical.

However, many seem to agree that a parking lot may be the strong option for the spot either way.

Denton’s downtown is known by many to often be a parking nightmare with few spots around the popular Square and limited space in lots and on side streets, as well.

Wayne Johnson, owner of Unique Barber Stylist, said he sees drivers circling the area at all times of day waiting for spots to open. He's also seen several of his fellow business owners move due to the lack of parking.

“Been in business 40 years,” said Johnson. “Parking has always been a problem.”

Johnson said he’s been suggesting the old fire station as a possible lot to the city for years now, and he’s glad to see that plan finally moving forward.

Cabrales said right now the plan is to get a temporary parking service into the spot before late April so they have the parking options for the upcoming festival season. After that, he said they will work on a more permanent design, but keep it a parking lot.

It won’t fill all the need, though, and Cabrales said on this week’s city council retreat, parking was a big topic of discussion.

“At some point, we’re probably going to have to build a parking garage in downtown Denton,” said Cabrales.

At this point, there’s no time line on that, but the city manager said they’re also in the early process of fixing up and expanding parking options in several other lots to continue to ease the parking deficit.

As for the old fire station, he said pending weather, crews will begin to tear it down Tuesday at 7 a.m.

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