The Columbia City Council is considering a proposed amendment which would restructure the mall’s planning and development plan. The amendment involves the subdividing the lot near where the previous Sears store was located and reducing the minimum required parking spaces that the mall must keep. This amendment is part of the early stages of the Dillard’s retail store’s planned expansion into the Sears wing of the mall. Project Engineer for Cochran Engineering, Ryan Gates, said that the proposed amendment does not currently contain any plans for construction.
“For the Sears lot, they are going to basically re-plat the existing mall lot and they’re going to split it into two properties. One is going to be for sale, and the other one the mall will go ahead and retain,” Gates said.
The amendment’s new lower parking requirement stems from an update made to the City of Columbia’s unified development code. Minimum parking requirements for large retail stores were previously calculated using the floor area of the space, but are now calculated using gross leasable area. The mall would be allowed to keep around 1,100 less parking spaces should officials choose to. Although, a separate amendment would need to be passed before demolition of existing parking spots could take place.
The proposed amendment comes as plans to build a new hotel near the North side of the mall are also under consideration by the City Council. Gates said that the lower parking minimum should better reflect the parking needs of the mall during normal time periods, but should still be able to handle any greater parking needs generated by new projects.
“It is over parked during most of the time, but during the peak times it should be able to handle that,” Gates said.
A report prepared by the Columbia Planning and Zoning commission for the City Council says that parking shortages at the mall could be more efficiently accommodated through increasing bus, shuttle and pedestrian access. All of these alternatives are supported by a 2006 report from the EPA. The Planning and Zoning commission does not indicate any specific plans to implement these alternatives to parking at this time.
City Council is set to vote on this proposed amendment at their regularly scheduled meeting on October 21.
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