FAIRHOPE, Ala. — New activity this week at the construction site of the city parking deck was a welcome sight for downtown merchants who had been wondering whether the project would be completed by November as planned.

“We’re scheduled to finish before the Christmas shopping season,” said John Pate of J.F. Pate and Associates Contractors Inc., general contractor for both the parking deck and the adjacent Hampton Inn also under construction. “The building is being fabricated in Pensacola, and it’s about half finished.”

Two cement mixer trucks, and a truck with a large crane-like arm and tube attached to discharge the concrete, were on the site early Thursday morning pouring the foundation of the project’s southernmost side.

“We poured 123 cubic yards of concrete today,” Pate said Thursday. “That’s a lot to pour in one day. It turned out well.”

He said the crew of about four carpenters and three laborers has been working overtime to get back on schedule after a late starting date and recent rain delays. A much larger crew has been working on the hotel, he said.

“I know it appears to be going a little slower than I anticipated, but they’ve been doing a lot of work on the hotel,” said Bill Baldwin, chairman of the Fairhope Parking Authority and owner of Fairhope Hardware. “It’s caused a lot of confusion with downtown parking, and it’s easy to get impatient. But all in all, it will mean a lot for the downtown area.”

The three-floor parking deck project is north of Fairhope Avenue and east of Church Street, the location of a former city parking lot, which had been a well-used parking spot for shoppers and employees of downtown businesses for decades.

Since the construction began several months ago, downtown employees have been parking in public lots behind Julwin’s Restaurant or De La Mare Avenue, or on side streets.

Or they have been parking in front of downtown stores, taking up spaces beyond the two-hour limit imposed when construction began. The city gave an initial grace period for employees and residents to make the adjustment to the temporary loss in convenient parking spaces. But that time has passed.

The Fairhope Police Department began enforcing the two-hour limit this week and had written one ticket as of press time, FPD Sgt. Craig Sawyer said.

“The two-hour limit starts at 10 a.m.,” Sawyer said. “The tickets are $5, which is very reasonable. If a citizen feels that the ticket was given in error, they can contact us.”

Sawyer said most people downtown have been very cooperative, understanding that the recent parking issue is a short-term problem while the parking garage is being constructed.

The parking deck will be owned and managed by the Fairhope Parking Authority with 89 spaces reserved for the hotel, according to a Nov. 15, 2007, memorandum of agreement between the developer, Fairhope Hospitality Group, and the Parking Authority.

“In order to build the hotel, they had to have additional parking spaces (for the 89 rooms),” Baldwin said. “They agreed to build the parking deck and to donate it to the city Parking Authority.”

Baldwin said there were approximately 125 parking places in the former parking lot.

“Not counting the parking for the hotel, the original plan would increase the parking by about 50 places,” said Barry Fulford, city building official. “The parking will be free.”

Fulford said the original plans described 251 parking places but that may change in order to increase the size of some of the spaces. He said that some additional parking will also remain outside the parking garage behind the stores on Fairhope Avenue.

All of the properties where city parking lots are located are leased to the Parking Authority from the Fairhope Single Tax Corp., in order to make sure there will always be parking there and to prevent other uses there, Fulford said.

“We studied very closely the proposal to put in the parking deck,” said Larry Thomas, president of FSTC. “We believed it was in the spirit of the lease and will increase the number of spaces for the public. We believe it’s a win-win situation.”

Thomas said the long-term leases for a nominal rent to the Parking Authority contain provisions for how the land must be used, which can revert back to the FSTC if not followed.

“If we can get the employees of the downtown businesses to park in the deck, that will keep the street parking for customers,” Baldwin said. “It will offer additional parking and be a very positive thing. Along with the new hotel, I think it will boost the whole downtown area.”