The Park Plaza make-over has begun. Starting this Monday, May 13th the eastern portion of the parking lot south of Park Plaza has been closed off and crews have begun removing trees from the plaza. Director of Planning and Public Works Wayne Carl says the project should be finished by August 1st. “The current parking lot was divided into two: an east parking lot and a west parking lot,” Carl said. “There was four driveway opening there. We’re going to once large parking lot with a two-way-in and a two-way-out drive so that there will be two entrances off of Simmons street instead of four. There’ll be a roadway inside the parking lot that goes around the perimeter. It’ll be a much better traffic flow. We’ll also be able to get approximately nine more parking spaces in the area than we had before.” Once the pavement and sidewalks are removed, crews will install a new storm sewer and water connections for the incoming public restrooms. The plaza area will be level with green space in the middle as will the lot where the West Theatre sat with a sidewalk entrance to Park Plaza from Prairie Street. Once the eastern portion of the parking lot is complete, the contractor will close off the western portion for the second phase. Crews will return in September to finish landscaping work.
