It’s taken years for city leaders to find common ground on the issue of parking for the historic Black Main Street Baptist Church, which sits close to the proposed 10-acre Town Branch Park.
Thursday marked the end of half a decade’s worth of talks and negotiations over the matter. The resulting deal has the city using $1 million in COVID relief dollars and an extra $500,000 from the General Fund to design and create 85 parking spaces for the church.
Mayor Linda Gorton said the agreement isn’t perfect, but called it a “step in the right direction.”
"This is a big deal. It's very important, and I so appreciate all of those in our government who worked with me and others to get this done," she said, thanking many who worked behind-the-scenes to sort through the dispute.
The Lexington Herald Leader reports designers have been working on plans to reconfigure the parking on the former entrance to the Jefferson Street Bridge, which was torn down in 2018. The church has been using temporary parking – again with help from city funding – in the meantime. The agreement will make those spaces permanent. For the church’s part, it must open up the parking spaces for public use during weekdays for the next 10 years.
