Ask Mr. Answer Person: "Should a two-level parking lot be built on Decorah's Day Spring Lane parking lot?"

Rochester, Minnesota has several parking ramps--because of traffic to the Mayo Clinic

(Darrin e-mails: As our Downtown continues to advance and small businessescontinue to make Decorah their new home, has the city ever researched making the north alley intoa large two level parking ramp--maybeone underground and the other above ground?)

Mr. Answer Person says, "There have been several times over the past few decades when the Downtown Decorah Betterment Association floated proposals for studying construction of a parking ramp downtown.

The thing that torpedoed those efforts--and remains a huge hurdle--is the cost of such a structure.  As with any building project, "your costs will vary."  But a rough rule is that such a structure would cost at least $250 to $300 per parking space.  Let's say you want to build a smaller parking ramp that has 100 parking spaces in it.  Even that space is going to cost around $3 million.

You're right that parking in Decorah has gotten tighter and tighter in recent years--a sign of the community's growing popularity.  But, as with most issues, it's not a question of "can" this be done, so much as it is a question of "Where's the money coming from?"