Atascadero city officials said there may be $5 million available soon that could be used toward increasing downtown parking.

Assistant City Manager Jim Lewis talked with a group of downtown business property owners in a meeting organized by the Atascadero Main Street Association Wednesday where he talked about parking funding.

Lewis said there had been $500,000 in RDA money put aside to help with parking, but when no consensus could be reached, the money went into downtown streetscapes. Now, there’s $5 million that had been previously held aside for repairs on the city’s Administration Building. That wasn’t enough, so the Redevelopment Agency will use money freed up by reissuing bonds for the Administration Building, which will, in turn, free up the $5 million for other uses.

“Once the bond is reissued, that will free up the other money immediately, so there will be $5 million for downtown projects,” Lewis said.

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