Seeking to add more parking downtown, the village of Pinehurst announced Monday it will pursue construction of a two-deck parking structure in the village center.

The structure would be located behind the The Holly Inn on Dogwood Road on an already existing parking lot.

"By the time this is constructed, parking will no longer be a barrier in the Village of Pinehurst," said Mayor Nancy Fiorillo.

The structure, which would be called Carriage House, would feature two levels, one below-grade lot accessible off Orange Road and the other accessible off Dogwood Road. The facility would add another 68 public parking spaces. The structure would also house public restrooms in a separate building, that could also include space for a possible visitor's center or other use.

"It is vital that the Village Council takes a long-term view regarding public parking needs. This is an opportunity to develop an attractive public facility for residents and visitors alike that will serve us in the long-term," Fiorillo said.

Parking has long been a topic of conversation in the village. In fact, a parking deck was part of a parking discussion in 2006 as part of a plan to develop the NewCore area, which is roughly bounded by McCaskill Road, Rattlesnake Trail, Magnolia, Dundee, Community, Maple and Spur roads. The area is now called Village Place.

In November 2005 a draft development plan for NewCore called for a parking structure on Dogwood Road between the Holly Inn and The Pine Crest Inn, with a pedestrian promenade connecting to the NewCore area.

In recent years, business owners in downtown Pinehurst have voiced concerns about the lack of parking for customers.

Koley Keel, owner of the Villager Deli, said he likes the deck idea.

"Any time you get more parking, that a good thing. That is the No. 1 issue downtown, and the bathrooms are a good idea too," Keel said.

Fiorillo said the plan should appeal to the business owners downtown.

"I think they are going to be thrilled about the availability of more parking," Fiorillo said.

But some residents say a parking deck is not necessary.

"Every time I go down there, there are plenty of places to park," said Pinehurst resident Melissa Swarbrick.

Swarbrick said the problem is that people working downtown tend to park in the spaces closest to businesses, inconveniencing customers. She said she thinks the village council should find a way to keep employees from parking in those spaces.

"If you go downtown enough you see the same cars parked in the same spaces all day long."

The property on which the deck would be built is owned by Pinehurst LLC, which has signed a letter of intent to provide the land for the project. The deck would be funded and managed by the Village. The facility would be used by the public and by guests of the Holly Inn, according to Village Manager Andy Wilkison.

The Hayter Firm of Pinehurst will lead a team consisting of Rabun, Rasche, Rector and Reese Architects of Atlanta, Ga. and LKC Engineering Inc. of Pinehurst to plan, design and administer construction of the $2.7 million project.

Planning and design is estimated to take six months. Construction is anticipated to take another 10 months. Construction would occur after the 2014 U.S. Open Championships.

The new structure would not encroach on any area outside the existing parking lot, which consists now of 92 spaces. The top level of the parking facility would have 61 spaces and the below-grade level would have 54 spaces.

When including new spaces from a reconfigured sand parking lot and a possible addition of 17 more off-street spaces near that lot, there would be as many as 520 parking spaces in the village center.

Based on its amount of retail space in downtown, the industry standard calls for 620 parking spaces, Wilkison said.

Wilkison said he proposed the possibility of a parking partnership to the Village about seven months ago. He said several locations were considered, but the selected site was easily the best: "This was the one that had the least impact on the Village Center of the ones we looked at."

The added parking would help ease parking shortages in the Village Center and provide parking for the expanded Given Memorial Library and Tufts Archives, which is known as Given Center. The facility would also provide centrally located parking between the existing Village Center and any future development in Village Place, while also adding more parking for special events.

The public rest rooms would make it easier for commercial building owners in the Village Center to retrofit their properties for modern retail needs with the public facilities meeting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements for much of the Village Center.

The location of the proposed parking structure is just a short walk to downtown, and each deck would have a walking path access to the street, according to preliminary plans.

The project will require a major site plan and will need approval from the Village Council and the Historic Preservation Commission.

Contact Tom Embrey at (910) 693-2484 or tembrey@thepilot.com.