More space for employee parking is being made available downtown in St. Paul. 

Town council decided to use a lot located just off of Main Street as a designated area for more downtown parking, in hopes of alleviating some of the congestion. 

The lot is on 51st Ave and 49th St. behind the Lions Park. 

Mayor Maureen Miller told Lakeland Connect that these conversations began years ago with the business community, but slowed down during COVID.

“It comes into challenges when people are looking for a practice permit or a building permit, they need to allocate how much parking space they have for their own employees, so we don’t want to cause that red tape,” Miller said. 

“It’s like let’s have a parking space that you can identify that this is where you’re going to park and even as patrons of the community. Then we’re not taking up Main Street parking that could be used for eight hours for an employee, so I think it’s it’s a great location and we just approved it.” 

The Town has a lease agreement which was signed in 2020 and expires in 2030. Administration contacted the owner of the lots and Amil Shapka with Champions for Change on the issue and was advised that there were no problems with this being used and promoted as a business parking area.