By Benjamin Rothstein

DOVER — During Monday’s Downtown Dover Partnership board meeting, Jed Hatfield, president of Wilmington-based Colonial Parking, gave members an update and overview of the mobility center planned for 145 S. Governor’s Ave.

Mr. Hatfield began by explaining why the plan is much more than simply a parking garage.

“A mobility center, in contrast to a parking garage, which is the term most people have heard, a mobility center is really intended to be that it’s not just for parking of cars. It’s really intended to be a center of mobility,” he said. “You can have some connectivity to transit, whether fixed route or the micro-transit that DART is working with now. (Ride) sharing, electric vehicle charging, all of those sorts of things really come into play in a modern mobility center versus just parking cars.”

The site will have around 400 parking spaces across five floors. Mr. Hatfield presented a draft plan of the garage but noted it was subject to change and likely will before construction begins.

Along with the spaces will be nearly 4,000 square feet of retail area and nearly 1,800 square feet of space for bicycles and other mobility methods.

He said that the team developing the center meets weekly, with plans shifting and evolving every time.

The partnership’s master plan aims for 800 parking spaces in the area, making them three-quarters of the way there between the structure and the estimated 200 throughout Downtown Dover.

Proceeds from the garage are proposed to go into a parking benefits district, which would be used for beautification and improvement projects in the area.

After the presentation, Mr. Hatfield opened the floor to questions, one of which regarded the idea that parking within the garage would be paid — to which he revealed that Colonial Parking is planned not only to handle parking in the garage but street parking as well. This means that street parking would also become paid.

“There is thought that that with the implementation of the mobility center, that (Colonial Parking) would be managing the parking throughout downtown Dover so it’s likely that on-street parking will become professionally managed and will have some fee associated with it in addition to the mobility center,” Mr. Hatfield said.

A board member noted there are talks of having times or seasons when parking is free, and possibly having the first 15 minutes be free as well, ideally still enticing visitors to spend time in Downtown Dover.

The funds from street parking would also go into the parking benefits district.