The city of Salisbury will start constructing a new parking lot in the 300 block of South Main Street next week and should finish the project within 30 days, a news release said.
The 55-space lot is part of an incentives package the city agreed to when Integro Technologies chose the 300 block of South main for its new headquarters.
The project has a budget of about $35,000, according to figures provided by the city.
The lot will be used by Integro during the day and will be open to public use on nights and weekends.
Instead of bidding and contracting out the construction of the parking lot, the city will be doing the work, the news release said.
Salisbury has excess asphalt available on its bulk asphalt contract and recycled concrete fill taken from the original parking lot that was on site, as well as “the manpower and skill to manage and construct this project.”
“Completing the project internally will result in a better value to the taxpayer and is consistent with the City Council’s philosophy of running city government more like a business,” the news release said. “In addition, the use of recycled materials is consistent with the City Council’s direction of operating the city in a sustainable manner.”
The city won’t complete perimeter work on the lot, the news release said, because of continuing uncertainty over the future use of the 329 S. Main St. site next to Integro.
The city offered that site for a new Rowan-Salisbury School System central office, but county commissioners refused to finance it on the former service station property even though work to remove tanks and remove and replace soil resulted in a clean bill of health from the state.
The central office issue is now tied up in a larger budget dispute between the school system and commissioners. The school board has asked a mediator to declare an impasse, which would allow it to file a lawsuit against the county.
If a judge ordered the county to fund the central office without restricting its location, the city’s news release said, the school board could still choose the South Main site as a less expensive alternative to a site on North Main that commissioners have approved.
If that were to happen, the city would need flexibility to add on the parking lot without disturbing the new construction.