Colorado Springs has already approved leasing city-owned Memorial Health System and is considering changes to ownership and governance of Colorado Springs Utilities.

Is the city’s Parking Enterprise next?

City officials are once again considering the possibility of having another entity take control of the Parking Enterprise.

City Council President Scott Hente resurrected the discussion during Wednesday’s monthly Mayor’s Counsel meeting.

“We had this conversation two or three years ago and I want to see if there’s any interest in reinvigorating or restarting that conversation,” he said.

Mayor Steve Bach raised concerns about possibly selling or leasing the enterprise, which he says generates about $1 million from meters and $1 million from fines.

“We need more revenue sources, not fewer,” he said.

“The Parking Enterprise is an important asset to the city,” Bach said in an interview after the meeting. “It generates $2 million a year in net income. I don’t see a reason to spin off the Parking Enterprise. We’re going to need to build more parking downtown as we continue this renaissance, so why would we turn it over to a third party?”

Bach said supporters of selling the enterprise have an agenda.

“There are folks, including Scott Hente and others with downtown interests who want to press forward with a trolley car system from the south end up to UCCS,” he said. “It’s a cool idea. I don’t know that that’s the right economic driver. But if they could get a hold of the Parking Enterprise, they could use then use that income to borrow the money to do that.”

But Bach didn’t close the door on the idea.

If the city sold the enterprise, the city would have to get market price for it, which Bach said would be at least $25 million.

“We have to get a market price for it, and I believe that the voters would have to make that decision. You may or may not concur with that,” he told council members during the meeting.

Councilwoman Angela Dougan said she agreed and that such a process would have to involve communitywide discussion, not just downtown.

“It has to be completely open and transparent. We can’t just give them the asset over, and we have to have all the community involved,” she said.

Councilman Merv Bennett said the Downtown Partnership is “very interested” in the discussion.

“I know they’ve had some discussions because I’m on that board representing council,” he said. “I don’t really know when they say they would like to engage what they have in mind.”

“I do,” Bach said. “They’d like us just to deed it to them for a dollar and that’s hard to do.”

“I agree,” Bennett said.

The mayor and council members agreed to discuss the issue during an informal meeting and involve representatives from the Downtown Partnership, Downtown Development Authority and the mayor’s Downtown Solutions Team. No date was set.

Absent from the Mayor’s Counsel meeting were council members Tim Leigh, Lisa Czelatdko, Val Snider and Brandy Williams.

Scott Hente (The Gazette file) Photo by