By Brooke King, Entertainment Editor
As the university campus continues to grow both in student body and buildings, the amount of parking has slowly dwindled, leaving many students and faculty wondering what will be done to compensate for the lack of parking spots.
The answer is a resounding, nothing. According to Frank Mezzanini, Vice President of Business Affairs, “The master plan [of the university]has no further parking expansion planned, but the master plan is a living document and subject to change as needs change.”
While the news may come to a shock to some, there is a silver lining as far as parking is concerned. The parking garage is tentatively set for completion around mid August 2012. There are some areas of campus that are being opened to both students/staff by the university to help alleviate some of the parking issue. The area east of the softball fields has been open, allowing for fifty extra spaces. In addition, the Abbey has allowed Saint Leo to open up a third row of parking in the Grove.
While some contend that the construction workers are taking up most of the parking in the Grove and as such there is no extra parking available to students. In response to the parking issue on campus due to construction Mezzanini said, “There are upwards of 200 construction workers on site for all three projects. The bottom line is we have added about 100 spaces.”
The construction workers have been instructed that the Grove is where they should park, so that they do not take up any parking near the residence halls or in the softball field parking. While the Abbey does own the Grove, they have allowed students to park there as overflow. This overflow parking allows for an extra 30 spaces. However, the university has also opened up parking along the service road near the temporary Admission building (Marmion Center).
With all the additional parking, Mezzanini said, “It would help if students from Marmion Snyder did not park on campus.” So, the parking issue on campus boils down to the students. Security will continue to ticket for illegally parked cars and it is the responsibility of the students to be consciously aware that those who do not live on campus need the few parking spaces available.
