The fate of a parking lot at Providence Road and Broadway will be the subject of a public hearing Monday night at the Columbia City Council.

The city is designing an expansion of Flat Branch Park on property purchased in 2017 that includes a Gateway Plaza at the southeast corner of the intersection. The council will consider four options developed by city staff, one that eliminates the 20-space lot and three others, considered at the urging of adjacent property owner Mark Stevenson, to retain some or all of the lot.

The 0.4 acre site is near where the original town of Columbia was founded in 1821 and city officials want the park project completed in time for bicentennial celebrations in two years. Once the council approves a plan, a fundraising effort will begin because there are no tax funds available in the city treasury to finance the work.

All four options include a lengthened right turn lane from Providence Road onto Broadway, opening more of Flat Branch Creek, green space with a raised overlook and performance stage, and a pedestrian bridge over the creek. The Gateway Plaza, described by the Downtown Community Improvement District as using “visual icons that welcome visitors downtown and encourage them to explore and experience Columbia,” includes internally illuminated columns and a globe to help spell out Columbia in large metallic letters.

The MKT Trail will be extended to terminate in the expanded portion of the park.

The Downtown Leadership Council wants the city to move ahead with the option that eliminates the parking lot, council president Scott Wilson said. The council is worried about the safety of a lot immediately adjacent to the intersection, the time it will take to negotiate specifics and the impact it will have on placement of the plaza, Wilson said.

“The public art for the gateway was at an angle so you can see it,” he said.

The council approved the purchase of the approximately 16,300-square-foot property that will become the park extension and plaza in 2016 for $1.1 million. It was previously owned in a trust by Dudley Roth and Vicki Connelly. CVS Pharmacy attempted for years to build a pharmacy at the corner of Broadway and Providence, but ran into numerous roadblocks with the council.

The parking lot in question was authorized in 1986 when the council approved the existing right turn lane from Providence Road. A portion of the lot is on property owned by Stevenson and he was given the right to use the spaces under an agreement that ended in August 2018.

The current options were developed after the draft master plan – called Option 1 in council documents – was discussed at a public meeting in January. Stevenson hired Simon Oswald Architecture to design an alternative that retained the parking, added several spaces and required the plaza to be moved.

The city staff designed a third option that retained some parking and Stevenson has pushed a fourth idea forward since the public hearing date was set April 15.

“I don’t know where the proposal came from, it is kind of last minute,” Wilson said. “We are not talking about taking property, eminent domain, talking about going forward with the plan. The question is do you want a flat-surface parking lot? Somehow this has become a landlord-tenant issue between Stevenson and his tenants.”

Stevenson did not return a call Friday seeking comment.

Developing the park and installing the gateway will cost approximately $1.9 million, said Mike Griggs, director of the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department. If the council approves the original master plan, fundraising can begin in earnest, he said.

The CoMo2020 committee, the city task force for bicentennial planning, will spearhead the fundraising effort.

“Any delays would hinder any fundraising availability,” Griggs said.

The expansion will make Flat Branch Park an even more inviting place because it will be more open, Griggs said.

“First of all, you look at how that park is being used now,” Griggs said. “Almost twice a month, there is a big race on the MKT that starts in that that areas or ends there, whether it is a walkathon, a bike race, or something like the Pedaler’s Jamboree. It is critical we keep that place as a vibrant, exciting location.”

The park wasn’t included in the project list for the most recent extension of the city parks tax and must be completed before voters are asked to extend it, Griggs said. He would have trouble finding any significant funds in his budget, he said.

“We cannot commit any dollars right now,” he said. “For one thing, the sales tax isn’t raising money that we predicted, so we are moving forward cautiously (on other projects.)”

rkeller@columbiatribune.com

573-815-1709