Rochester City Council settles on parking ramp lawsuit, approves Mayo parking lot housing plan

(ABC 6 News) – People in Downtown Rochester are in and out of parking ramp six every day. The parking garage is supposed to be able to support 10 floors of housing on top of it, but according to a lawsuit brought by the City of Rochester, it’s not structurally sound enough to do so.

The city sued Collaborative Design Group, a Minneapolis based company that designed the structure. The council settled for $2.025 million Monday night, in lieu of the planned housing development on top of the ramp.

For many, ramp six is in a convenient spot.

"Right now I got my mom. She’s not able to walk that far because she’s elderly, so not being able to park close would be a struggle for her," said Julio Molina, a Rochester resident who parks in the ramp.

The council also approved final proposed ward map – rounding out the city’s redistricting process. The new map will make each ward’s population almost identical in size and aims to bring together communities of interest as well as Rochester’s non-white populations to increase their influence in local government.

"We did a lot of work on this and we engaged with the community and got a lot of feedback. And kept those principles in mind when drawing the boundaries," said Heather Heyer, a management analyst with the City of Rochester.

There will be a special meeting Thursday, March 24 for final approval of the new ward maps.

Also on the meeting agenda council members will vote on adding metered parking spaces along Civic Center Dr NE.

ABC 6 News confirmed Monday night with the city council that a settlement had been reached, but council members are still unable to comment further.