The county board is doing its part to help the Spam Museum with its move downtown.

The board voted 4-1 Tuesday to swap 19 parking stalls with the city and to sell the city the old library lot parking lot at the corner of First Street and Second Avenue Northwest.

“I think the whole thing’s going to be very good for the whole downtown area and the city of Austin,” Commissioner Jerry Reinartz said.

There are two parking lots between Second and Fourth Avenues Northeast west of the Jail and Justice Center: the one-way county lot along the former First Avenue and the city lot to the west along the B&J Bar and other downtown businesses. The city will take over 19 stalls on the county side near the B&J Bar & Grill, while the county will get 19 stalls on the city side just north of the Government Center.

The move gives the city stalls near the future Spam Museum site to use as RV, camper and bus parking. The county’s new stalls may actually be used more by county employees, according to Coordinator Craig Oscarson.

“It’s a closer location to the north door for those employees,” Oscarson said.

Reinartz and Oscarson noted that the current 19 stalls near the B&J aren’t used often by county employees. After work hours, the stalls become public parking.

However, not everyone was for the plan. Commissioner Tim Gabrielson voted ‘no,’ saying he didn’t want to give up county-owned space near the Jail and Justice Center in case the county ever needed to expand the jail.

“I do not think it’s in the best judgment of the county and the taxpayers to give up land when we are locked in,” Gabrielson said.

When the county built the Jail and Justice Center, which opened in 2010, it built in the infrastructure and left space for the jail to expand from its current 128 beds to 248 beds. Gabrielson said he didn’t want to jeopardize plans should jail populations ever require the addition be built.

“You’ve got to be looking down the road 20 years, and I don’t think we can afford to be giving up any of the space we’ve got now,” Gabrielson said.

But Oscarson said future jail expansion was only planned as a precaution, and it wouldn’t even affect the parking lot. Should it ever be required, the jail would expand to the green space north of the jail.

“This agreement does not take any of that away from you,” Oscarson said.

Reinartz said he didn’t want to jeopardize what he called a positive project over a simple parking stall exchange.

“I look at it as a swap,” Reinartz said. “We’re not losing anything. We’re getting the same amount that we’re giving up. Plus, they’re much closer to the Government Center than the ones we’re giving up.”

Gabrielson did not voice opposition to selling the old library lot, which features about 36 stalls the county had previously discussed selling.

The county will sell that lot to the city for about $75,000, which is below the county’s appraised value of a little more than $100,000.

Some minor details still need to be ironed out for the swap. The city and county will have to decide who’s responsible for keeping those spaces clean during the winter.

—Trey Mewes contributed to this report.