Milan Forms Committee to Create Downtown Parking Plan

The seven members of Milan City’s newest sub-committee will assess how to make parking in downtown Milan easier in years to come.

Spurred by more growth planned for Milan’s downtown, the city council—including Councilmember Marie Gress and Councilmember Jesse Nie who just started their terms—unanimously voted Tuesday Jan. 6 to form a Municipal Parking Sub Committee.

Planning Commission Chair Jim Latham, who also owns Latham’s Downtown Hardware at 37 W. Main Street, said the commission requested the city take a closer look at the issue. 

“What we want to do is create a comprehensive plan that lays the solution for the next 30 years,” Latham said.

He said over the decades he’s served on the Downtown Development Authority, on city council, and most recently on planning commission for about 15 years. In every resident survey he recalls people expressing concern about downtown parking.

“The parking situation in downtown Milan is very tight,” Latham said. “There are no rules. We’ve added an enormous number of residential units. People are parking overnight, parking to come and go to frequent their businesses. There’s potential expansion. It’s been on pretty much every survey from the public—the public asks us to improve the parking in any way possible. When we have an event it’s difficult to park down here.”

Latham said he hopes they can work with the city manager, city planners, and developers, including Councilman David Snyder who owns property downtown, to explore grant funding opportunities and find solutions. He said encouraging alternative types of transportation could be part of the discussion, too, and they will be relying on guidance from the city planners on that.

Mayor Ed Kolar said the planning commission has asked for a Municipal Parking Sub Committee for more than a year and urged City Manager Jim Lancaster to proceed quickly. 

The Parking Sub Committee meetings will be open to the public.

The mayor appointed representatives of the Downtown Development Authority, Planning Commission, City Council and an at-large member.

The members include: 

Downtown Development Authority representatives:

• Jess Meingasner, Executive Director of the Downtown Development Authority
• Pat Shannon, co-owner of Hungry Howies

Planning Commission representatives:

• Joe Ryan, planning commission member
• Jim Latham, owner of Lathams, planning commission chair

City Council representatives:

• Mayor Pro Tem Mary Kerkes
• Councilmember Shannon Dare Wayne

At large representatives:

• Ryan Wilman, owner of the Owl, Morning ‘til Night
• Alternate:  Chris Thompson, owner of Christian’s Catering