Montrose Shopping Park Garage Plan Advances

The Glendale City Council on Tuesday began the process of forming an assessment district to build a long-awaited parking garage for Montrose Shopping Park.

After four years of negotiations, the city and merchants have agreed to build a $1.5-million, two-level garage with 173 parking spaces on the northwest corner of Broadview Drive and Market Street, said George A. Miller, public works director.

Construction could begin in July with completion by mid-November, provided the plan is adopted by the council after a public hearing planned for April.

Merchants in the quaint village that straddles the city’s northern border have complained for years that they have been ignored while the city focused on the downtown redevelopment zone and the Glendale Galleria. Although the Montrose Shopping Park is in the city of Glendale, some residential parts of Montrose are in an unincorporated area of the county.

But the focus zeroed in on Montrose this week when the city tentatively agreed to contribute more than $1 million toward the parking project.

About $855,000 has been accumulated in a special fund over the years from parking meter revenues and the sale of city-owned property in Montrose, Miller said. The city expects to allocate another $185,000 toward the city’s share of costs.

Merchants and property owners would pay a total of $450,000, funded over nine years through the sale of bonds.

In the past, merchants had been lukewarm to the idea of forming an assessment district. But Sandra Swanson, president of the Montrose Shopping Park Merchants Assn., told council members Tuesday that the shopping district has been slow to persuade new retailers to locate in the area because of a lack of adequate parking.

“Unless we can grow and attract some decent stores to town, we are going to dry up and blow away,” Swanson said.