The Marion County Board has agreed to move forward on the long-delayed improvements to the county’s parking lot in the 200 block of North Broadway in downtown Salem.
The county never finalized paperwork to get the former gas station property cleared of any environmental concerns. They had voted to proceed more than a year ago, but for some reason there was no follow through and the parking lot remained unfinished.
The additional study for any environmental problems will now proceed with a cost not expected to be over $50,000. Any money spent will be reimburseable.
Once cleared, County Highway Engineer Alex Kreke thinks the surface can be oiled and chipped at a cost of just over $10,000. The county had earlier sought a more than $1-million grant to complete the parking lot project, but it was not funded.
