Higher than expected construction costs and a campus building project mean that St. Clair’s parking lot development plans have had to be revised, according to a report presented by the school’s administration to the Board of Governors during its June 27th meeting.
The idea, considered a year or two ago, of building a new level – “a second storey” – atop a portion of the existing “C” lot was scrapped because of its high cost.
During the past few years, even just the cost of adding new ground-surface lot space has increased substantially – from the price of about $15,500 per parking space to approximately $20,600.
Nevertheless, the college is proceeding with expansions and reconfigurations of lots C, E/G, and N.
In total, those projects will add 269 new spaces to main campus.
With improvements to various roadways and sidewalks rolled in, the total cost of those upgrades is estimated at just over $5.5 million.
The report to the Board noted:
For fall 2023, with the reconstruction of lot C and the expansion of Lot N, the college will have gained 115 spots.
However, the construction of the new Welcome Centre (just east of the sidewalk leading in to the main entrance of the school) has created a temporary loss of 44 spaces along the east roadway during the construction period. These spaces are being used for construction parking and lay-down areas until the scheduled completion of the Welcome Centre in July, 2024. With the loss of the east roadway spots, the net new parking spaces for Fall 2023 is 71 parking spots.
The final phase of the parking plan will be implemented in summer 2024, with the expansion of Lots E and G. The parking spaces lost during the Welcome Centre construction will also become available for regular use. Therefore, there will be a total gain for Fall 2024 of 269 spaces, 29 spots more than (what had been) the proposed one level parking deck.
The report added:
St. Clair Parking Services has initiated a new mobile parking app called “Honk”. It will be implemented at our Windsor and Chatham campuses for Fall 2023, and will allow students, staff and visitors the opportunity to utilize the mobile app to pay for parking via their phone. This integration will allow patrons and students easier access and less wait time for Pay-and-Display parking vouchers when visiting the campuses.
MORE BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEETING STORIES:
• Under-enrolled programs suspended, and a few new ones launched: https://news.stclair-src.org/need-know-news/low-enrolment-leads-first-year-suspensions-some-programs
• The college will soon have a whistleblower policy: https://news.stclair-src.org/need-know-news/college-sets-policy-whistleblowers
• College prepares for change to provincial funding formula: https://news.stclair-src.org/need-know-news/colleges-prepares-new-provincial-funding-formula
• Items of interest from the President’s Monthly Report: https://news.stclair-src.org/need-know-news/board-updated-president
