St. Joe Mayor Addresses Downtown Parking Concerns

Paying for parking in downtown St. Cloud has been a source of controversy.  St. Joe Mayor Rick Schultz indicates he has received complaints about a lack of available parking in their downtown.  He says as long as he's mayor he doesn't want to charge for parking downtown and feels it's one of the great amenities of their downtown.  He says:

The downtown area, where you want people to walk and congregate... paying for parking is against the ease of access kind of thing.

Schultz explains having a lack of available parking is kind of a good problem for downtown businesses.  He says that is often the one complaint they will get from downtown businesses though.  Schultz indicates if parking in front of the business you want to visit isn't available it is likely a spot is available just a block or 2 away.  He explains he isn't saying there isn't a parking problem in St. Joe but the parking expectations need to change.  Schultz says if they put in a parking lot near the ballpark there is no guarantee people will choose to park there so adding a city parking lot may not be an effective way of handling the parking pressure.

Get our free mobile app

The city of St. Joseph continues to grow and Schultz indicates Joe Town Apartments is now complete and is taking renters on the south side of town.  He says the residential growth in the city is south near Kennedy Community School.  Schultz explains the city limits extend to the Sauk River but city services don't extend to all locations in the city limits but he does say that is in the long term plan.

An area of commercial growth in the city of St. Joseph according to Schultz is on the west side of town along County Road 2 and on the way to Interstate 94.  He says it is available for commercial and light industrial.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Rick Schultz, it is available below.