BIDDEFORD — Lack of parking in downtown Biddeford has been a common complaint among business owners and others for years.

Starting in the new year, that problem may worsen when privately owned spots that are currently open for public use become closed to the general public.

Parking owned by the Pepperell Mill Campus, including the parking lot at the intersection of Main and Alfred streets, across from the Happy Dragon restaurant, as well as on York and Laconia streets, will be closed off to the public.

Only tenants and those visiting or working at Pepperell Mill Campus buildings or businesses will be allowed to park in those spaces, said mill spokesman Scott Joslin.

Recent and new businesses, as well as potential opportunities, “puts pressure on us to provide parking,” he said.

Several new or planned businesses in building 13 ”“ across from the Happy Dragon, which will be called the Pepperell Center ”“ include Banded Horn Brewing, Impact Fitness and a gluten-free pie company.

Joslin said the Pepperell Mill is also putting in a bid to house the University College at Saco there, which is part of the University of Maine System and currently located on Saco Island.

In addition, a new 150-seat restaurant will likely come to the campus in the spring, he said, as well as a mortgage processing center and the expansion of Hyperlite Mountain Gear, he said.

There are also other discussions with developers that, if they come to fruition, will put further strain on the already limited parking in the area.

“We can accommodate what we’re building out to in the immediate future,” said Joslin. But parking “in the future will be an issue as we expand.”

With limiting parking owned by the Pepperell Mill Campus, to tenants and customers, “this will profoundly effect restaurants and businesses in that area,” he said.

This is further evidence for the need of a parking garage, Joslin said.

Earlier this year, city councilors discussed the possibility of a public/private partnership to build a parking garage in or near the city’s mill district. This became a heated topic surrounding the November election, particularly in the mayoral race.

Mayor Alan Casavant, who won re-election to a second term, said he favors a parking garage as long as it has no impact on property taxes.

Others say they oppose a parking garage that is paid for with any public money.

Prior to the election, the council discussions on the issue were put on the back burner. The parking garage will stay there, said Economic Development Director Daniel Stevenson, until the new council members are brought up to speed on the issue, and if they indicate they want to move forward with the project.

The parking garage was only one piece of an overall parking strategy for the mill district and downtown developed by Winton Scott Architects, based in Portland, said Stevenson. The firm was hired by the city to come up with a parking management plan.

Another part included a simple, fairly low cost strategy of placing wayfinding signs around the area to point people to existing city-owned parking, such as the lot on Washington Street, and private lots that are open to the public after business hours.

However, said Stevenson, regarding the impending enforcement of private parking on Pepperell Mill Campus, “at that end of the mill district, parking is very tight.

“As we continue to fill the mill district, we will continue to run into these parking issues,” he said.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.