By Mike Finney

DOVER — The Downtown Dover Partnership is seeking input from residents as it plans for the future of transportation in the city.

The organization will host an open house Monday from 3-5 p.m. in the Community Room at the Dover Public Library to discuss the mobility center that the partnership has targeted to help with downtown parking.

The proposed facility targets 400 parking spaces and could rise to five or more stories depending on the size and configuration of the footprint.

It is anticipated that the mobility center will be managed electronically and may include some on-site staffing, which will add “eyes to the street” and encourage safety.

The target date for completion of the hub is December 2026.

Several brief presentations will be held Monday and it is anticipated that representatives from Mosaic Development Partners, Colonial Parking Inc., EDiS, Bernardon and the Downtown Dover Partnership will be on hand to receive input.

The public can comment on several ideas, as well as provide additional input as decisions for the design, materials and location for the center are being considered.

“The Downtown Dover Partnership has, over time, received input that more parking is needed downtown, including convenient and safe parking,” said Diane Laird, executive director of the organization. 

“When prospecting for new businesses, particularly restaurant owners, many have indicated that the lack of parking is one of the primary reasons they look elsewhere.

“That suggests to us that a centrally located parking facility is needed to attract restaurants and small businesses.”

The need for a mobility center was identified as a priority in the “Capital City 2030: Transforming Downtown Dover” master plan to increase parking capacity in the business district, including for residents, visitors, workers and customers of small businesses on and near Loockerman Street.

The proposed location is one block off Loockerman Street, along Minor Street Alley between South Bradford Street and South Governors Avenue. 

The structure is anticipated to act as a central location to access not only parking, but also several modes of transportation, and could provide transportation amenities such as bike rental and possibly bike and/or scooter storage which could reduce the need for residents to use, or even own, multiple vehicles.

Being able to access Uber, Lyft and other transit options at the center are is also anticipated.

In February, Gov. John Carney toured the area where the city is looking to spark its revitalization plan and was excited about the future for Dover.

In the week prior to his visit, Gov. Carney announced the state of Delaware’s plan to invest more than $25 million into three priority projects for the downtown Dover plan.

“I think one of the things that’s really obvious is how much support they have from the local community. And projects like this, as big as this is and as impactful as it can be, don’t really happen unless you have everything pulling in the same direction,” Gov. Carney said. “It’s very obvious that that’s what is happening here.

“I just think that the concept of getting more people downtown makes a lot of sense for the businesses that are here and enlivening the area in the community really is exciting.”

The downtown master plan also provides strategies for residential expansion in the capital city by adding nearly 1,000 residential units over time, which would provide a built-in audience for living, working and recreating in or very near the downtown district.

The redevelopment plans for 120 S. Governors Ave. is proposing around 150 units, and the parking hub anticipated to be directly across the street will help to support the parking and transportation needs of those new residents.

The partnership and development team have also been considering another priority recommendation in the plan — to create a more experiential environment on Loockerman Street.

During the recent Loockerman Street design charrette led by the Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization, ideas emerged to remove parking alternately on one side of each block of Loockerman Street to allow for widened sidewalks in an effort to encourage strolling and outdoor dining.

The mobility center could potentially capture the loss of some of this street parking.

Helen Wiles, public outreach manager for the Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization, took note of the wide variety of people who showed an interest in the future of downtown Dover at those meetings.

“I think the interest has been very, very good and very diverse,” she said. “We’ve gotten a lot of different communities, different sectors of the population – not just business owners, though we’ve gotten business owners, residents and all kinds of people.

“I think what they are looking at is more of a balance and a way to attract more pedestrians, walkers and bicyclists, but also to retain a little bit of the corridor so that cars can come and go and there will be a few parking spaces and stuff like that.”

For information on the master plan and related activities visit DowntownDover.com.

Staff writer Mike Finney can be reached at 302-741-8230 or mfinney@iniusa.org.
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