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Improvong the parking lot at 5th and Edmond is on the list of capital projects the city will be discussing this week.

Private business owners can do only so much for Downtown.

If the City Council wants to blot out blight, it must dip into its own pocketbook so city facilities can match the aesthetic improvements of nearby businesses.

By its own admission, the city has long neglected the parking lot it operates on Edmond Street between Fifth and Sixth streets. Visitors who pull off Interstate 229 into Downtown don’t immediately see the streetscape of decorative brick and flowers along Felix Street. Instead, they form a first impression based on the view of Edmond Street from the base of the exit ramp: a cracked asphalt parking lot and the unsightly backsides of buildings.

“Anything we can do to improve the aesthetics of Downtown is in our best interest,” said Becky Boerkircher, executive director of the St. Joseph Downtown Partnership.

The City Council’s finance and audit committee met Tuesday to discuss funding options for upgrades to the lot, along with nine other projects.

City Manager Vince Capell presented the council with two primary options to refurbish the lot. The council gave Mr. Capell the nod to move forward with a $371,000 plan that would add a new surface, improved lighting in the alley to Felix Street and sitting walls to the lot, while cutting its capacity from about 70 spaces to 54. The alternative plan would have cut the lot to 45 spaces at a cost of $350,000.

The city will use in-house labor to design the project so it can save money and maintain a uniform appearance with the recent streetscape work on Felix Street. The project will move forward with roughly $295,000 from a recent landline franchise fee settlement and nearly $76,000 in cell phone settlement revenue. Mr. Capell said the city also would apply for tax increment financing as part of the Downtown TIF the council approved earlier this year.

Parking improvements could help economic growth in the area. Mr. Capell said developers of the Brazilian steakhouse that will open soon across Sixth Street showed interest in buying the lot.

“If it’s converted to private hands, then we lose control of the lot and using it for public parking,” Mr. Capell said. “We’re going to need more parking, not less, especially if it works out the way we want it.”

Mayor Ken Shearin said he wanted to make sure the citizens Downtown parking committee was on board with the plan before the council made a decision. Though the committee has not reviewed the plans, Downtown business owners in the audience said the plan should be a “slam dunk.”

“Parking has always been a problem with bringing Downtown back. We have to do something,” Mr. Shearin said.

Clinton Thomas can be reached at clintonthomas@npgco.com.