Because additional parking space is sorely needed now, Osceola County officials look like they are continuing in the right direction with a plan to assign a contract in June to design the proposed new 900-space parking garage that would be constructed near Courthouse Square in Kissimmee.

However, county officials need to clarify several issues before actually building a new parking garage so they don’t put the proverbial horse before the cart.

We thought the commission previously had committed to building a new administration building at Courthouse Square rather than on the nearby Beaumont site or worse yet, on East U.S. Highway 192. From comments made at the May 10 County Commission meeting, we’re not sure about that decision. If it isn’t staying at the square, why proceed on designing a 900-spot parking garage?

For us, a new administrative facility – when it is built – belongs at Courthouse Square and nowhere else. In that way, we can keep the downtown area and its many businesses vibrant and core government services centralized, with easy access by private vehicle, Lynx bus or SunRail.

Commissioners before building the parking garage also have to decide whether employees – and Courthouse Square visitors for that matter – would have to pay for parking. If that were the case – and we believe there should be a charge involved, at least for the public – then that would mean many more drivers would try to park on city streets and in private lots, creating another set of issues. A decision on whether to put up parking meters along city streets or in city lots would also have to be discussed and businesses would have to monitor their private lots much more closely.

The county already owns much of the property it needs on which to build the new garage and most of the buildings involved are vacant or could be vacated quickly. It would be easy enough to clear off some or all of these buildings and level the sites to provide instant parking if county officials want to delay building a parking garage until the economy improves. We could support that action. However, that would not be a permanent solution.

Two things are certain: The court system will continue to expand as population increases and county and city of Kissimmee officials will have to work closely to deal with parking issues.