A proposal to combine and improve parking areas serving Lee Lofts and City Plumbing in downtown Salina will go before the Salina Business Improvement District No. 1 Design Review Board next week.

Matt Rowe, on behalf of Lee Lofts Partners, LLC, has filed an application seeking a Certificate of Compatibility for improvements to the shared parking area along the west side of North Fifth Street.

Under the proposal, the existing landscape buffer separating the Lee Lofts parking lot from the City Plumbing Co. parking lot would be removed.

Plans also call for:

Repaving and restriping the parking area

Modifying existing drive aisles

Adding parking spaces

Combining the two areas into a shared parking lot serving Lee Lofts and City Plumbing

The parking area covers portions of two properties. The northern parcel is owned by Lee Lofts Partners, LLC, while the southern parcel is owned by Kenneth W. Pahls.

Approximately 4,984 square feet of the southern parcel would be used for the parking expansion under an existing recorded parking easement agreement.

The properties are zoned C-4, or Central Business District, and are within Salina Business Improvement District No. 1.

Because the project is within the downtown business improvement district, the proposed changes require review for compatibility with applicable downtown design requirements.

The Design Review Board will hold a public hearing on the application at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, in Room 107 of the City-County Building, 300 W. Ash St.

Members of the public will have an opportunity to speak regarding the proposal during the hearing.