Taylor: Downtown is under siege

In recent days, much has been made of the downtown project known as Salisbury Town Center Apartments (STCA) This project is being pushed by the developers after 2 failed court appeals and now an unprecedented lobbying attempt to double the density (units/acre) via a text amendment filed by the primary applicant- Bradley Gillis.

In that effort, STCA is being touted by the owners as supplying much-needed market-rate rental housing AND as the long-awaited “Phoenix Rising” for the downtown. In contrast, the developers paint me as impeding progress as they shamelessly wrap themselves in the flag of the housing crisis which is unfortunately all too real.

Let’s be clear; despite whatever the STCA project is claiming to be true- this ill-conceived project will attempt to place an extremely unhealthy level of density (units) without adequate parking in the center of downtown. In my view, it places the accessibility and health of the downtown in permanent peril from which I predict it would never recover.

When developers resort to letters to the editor or self-published Facebook posts, it is an ideal time to grab some popcorn and look forward to reading a real fiction. The letter penned by Joey Gilkerson (minority local partner in the above project) is no exception. The local developers are telling a story which I am referring to as the tale of “Gilligus Island.’
For history, under the prior Mayor Jake Day, the city discreetly and capriciously sold seven (7) downtown parking lots under the auspices of “surplus” property to include, Lot 1,11,15,10, 16 & 30 as well as the Salisbury Marina next to Brew River. Those parking lots were hardly “surplus” and constituted 956 parking spaces downtown with a land mass of about 6.25 acres throughout the footprint.

For clarity, the current traditional downtown building owners do not own their parking. As such, they have always been completely dependent upon the city-owned parking lots and garage for both customers and employees. Each of these parking lots were sold at deep discounts -some for as little as $1- with additional taxpayer subsidies. All these deals were in exchange for “promised redevelopment”. For the record, NONE of those projects have yet to come to fruition. Some date back to 2017.

To summarize –six (6) major parking lots were sold and (if developed) will be gone. All these lot purchases carried agreements for in-fill redevelopment that will still carry both the EXISTING parking demand and the NEW parking demand of the respective projects. During the same period, the Day administration also decided to remove the “parking standard” which exists in every other zone in the city except the Central Business District (CBD)

So, what is the problem? It’s very simple; within the footprint of the STCA “plan”- the only place afforded as replacement parking for the entire CBD- is a small portion of land the city can build a single 445-space parking garage paid for by the city. Several major problems arise– all of deep concern:

1) The proposed parking garage would be desperately undersized from day one. No matter what double-talk you hear or jumbled figures folks tout; it is complete nonsense. Currently, the city has 385 permits in place for spots within the surface parking which if developed- will be gone. That is before you count the 325+ spots this oversized STCA project will need as planned– if built. Now, depending on which inputs from other in-fill projects you use beyond that- the city will be very conservatively 300-500 parking spots SHORT for parking on day ONE. That does not include anything for the customers of the newly announced 1,000-seat Salisbury University Performing Art Center, the SU staff, regular daily parking, new density-driven daily parking, high-intensity festival or event parking demand, monthly jury duty demand or redevelopment of existing buildings. All of which poses an OBVIOUS PROBLEM!
2) The only new garage is slated to be built will be owned by the city. Another deal fraught with problems. On just the payment of the bond debt -not including any operational expenses, the city will lose one million dollars ($1M) -while under construction funded by the taxpayers during the first year. This, followed by a projected long-term residual loss of $400K -ANNUALLY (funded by the taxpayers) That is to say– even fully leased and charging the highest parking rates the city has ever charged for garage parking – the city takes a $400K annual hit to provide an undersized parking garage while still choking the Downtown for parking. Beyond the obvious problem -this will be a significant drag on the taxpayers – some of which could be offset by a fully vested property tax but – STCA will not be paying property taxes substantially for the next decade due to the Horizon tax program. Translation – that is an aggregate cost to the taxpayer of $4.4M cost over 10 years ONLY to provide parking that is undersized while the Downtown is dying due to a lack of parking. Another OBVIOUS PROBLEM
3) In the end, the only remaining accessible parking would be on-street parking outside of the new garage likely occupied by the tenants, property owners and employees, customers & visitors. All looking for “convenience in & out” parking which is now limited to 2 HOURS. To be sure, businesses and their customers will suffer and eventually or should I say immediately - choke off interest in being downtown as a customer or a business. As a business owner, if you think the marginal increase in “heads and beds” downtown – will offset the chokehold of the hundreds of residents all over the city who come downtown and spend money that will quickly learn parking is a disaster. So, think again. Another OBVIOUS PROBLEM.

To be brutally honest, the fight about the downtown is serious and will deeply impact Salisbury’s future forever. Anyone that knows me – knows I care about Salisbury. I am calling for your help in downtown which is dear to all of us. I am being attacked by the cadre of developers which-in my view- had an inappropriate relationship with the city’s assets, business interests and equally as concerning—with its political process. The STCA project is what I can only deem as pump and dump scheme by outside developers being hawked by local insiders. I am your Mayor and I am fighting for your downtown. Familiarize yourself with the facts and please come support that fight.

Randy Taylor
Mayor of Salisbury
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.