Salisbury Mayor and City Council President at odds over development & parking

SALISBURY, Md. – Salisbury’s Mayor and City Council President are at odds over plans to build an apartment complex and the impact it would have on parking. Councilman Doughty says there will be enough parking while Mayor Taylor says not so fast.

Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor and City Council President D’Shawn Doughty are far away from consensus on what parking would be like if density is increased downtown. It’s that measure, in the form of an ordinance that City Council approved by a 4 to 1 vote Monday night, that would pave the way for the brand-new apartment complex.

Mayor Taylor vetoed the ordinance Wednesday that would have doubled the permitted zoning density by changing the maximum units of housing allowed from 40 per acre to 80, allowing for a lot more people to live downtown.

Now, Mayor Taylor and Councilman Doughty are speaking out exclusively with WMDT’s Rob Petree on the issue of parking and what the impact would be if the project finally does come to fruition. The two are in disagreement on whether or not there would be enough parking.

“Once the math ends up, we’re going to have a surplus of spaces when you have the two garages there, plus surface level parking,” Councilman Doughty said when asked about concerns that there would not be enough parking when it’s all said and done.

Mayor Taylor disagrees. “The math is very, very simple – and it doesn’t work,” he said as he shifted through documents and graphs of data that he prepares to finalize and present to City Council.

Councilman Doughty maintains that the city would not lose parking spots if the ordinance is implemented and green-light given to build the apartments.

“We’re taking away, yes, the parking lot, but we’re replacing it with the parking structure that is going to add units of parking,” Councilman Doughty said. “And, yes, there is going to be an apartment complex there, but there’s going to be more spaces.”

Mayor Taylor says when you factor in the elimination of permit parking, the demand created for parking, and how many spaces the city plans to put back, it just doesn’t work.

“That formula is not a good one for the city,” Mayor Taylor said. “There’s not enough spaces being put back, and eliminate, to make it work.”

Councilman Doughty says blocking progress will also block the new parking garage.

“We can’t begin to start to mitigate, and address the parking situation, unless we move forward,” Councilman Doughty said. “But, if we continue to stay stagnant, it’s not going to be addressed.”

Mayor Taylor refuted that and told us he’s currently compiling data that he plans to present to City Council that shows a deficit when it comes to parking spaces under the development plan.

“What I’m doing now is putting together a formal memo, which I think articulates all of the data and the impact that this thing could have across the footprint, this change,” Mayor Taylor explained. “I think if it doesn’t convince one more member of the council to go in my direction, well, that would be a shame.”

Putting that aside, he says the new garage could put the city in debt.

“The garage, even if it were to be built, because we aren’t able to collect enough revenue to support it, the city will have to pick up the deficit of that cost, which is in the neighborhood of $500,000 a year, or more,” Mayor Taylor said. “It’s just not a great deal for the city and we’re going to have to work out some other approach to this and that’s why I vetoed it.”

The ordinance’s passage paved the way for Gillis Gilkerson, a local developer, to get the go-ahead on the project for the apartment complex. That’s now been put on pause as a result of the Mayor’s veto.

“When the Mayor says he is pro-development, and wants to see development downtown, and is now vetoing a pro-development, pro-downtown, text amendment, it is unfortunate,” Gillis said in response to learning that the Mayor vetoed the measure.

Many residents who spoke at Monday night’s council meeting in support of the ordinance did so expressing the need for more affordable housing, which Mayor Taylor says has resulted in misinformation.

“I think there’s been a lot of misinformation about the entire project, affordability just being one among them,” Mayor Taylor said in response.

We asked Gillis specifically if their apartments would be affordable. He said it’s their hope that their apartments will be attainable for local residents.

“Apartments downtown, and our apartments, are market rate,” Gillis said in response. “So, the word affordability has been thrown around and has many different definitions to many different people. When we develop these parcels of land, and when we develop these apartments, it’s our hope that they’re going to be attainable to the folks that live in and around downtown.”

City Council passed the ordinance with a super majority and that’s what they’ll need in order to override the Mayor’s veto. Mayor Taylor says he’s confident at least one other council member will break away to uphold his veto after he gives his presentation at their next meeting set for Monday, January 27th.

WMDT News reached out to all five members of Salisbury City Council following the Mayor’s veto. Council President Doughty was the only one who agreed to interview. Councilwoman Sharon Dashiell was the only member to vote against the ordinance.