GC&SU considers parking deck

For years, Georgia College & State University has considered building a parking deck to alleviate some of the school’s parking issues, and now the talks have resumed.

Vice President of Business and Finance Harry Keim said a five-story, 1,000-space deck, which would cost around $12 million, would be a risky project that would be paid for primarily by students.

Keim said about 10 years ago, the parking lot on the corner of Montgomery and Wilkinson was tapped to become a 1,000-car deck to the tune of $7,000 per space, or around $7 million.

Now, Keim said the price tag reaches nearly $12,000 a space–in total, a $12 million dollar deck that would be paid for through a significant increase in student activity fees.

“If it’s $12 million for 1,000 parking spaces, then it becomes about $80 per student, per semester, for 20 years to get a parking deck,” Keim said.

Another major issue is location. Finding a student-friendly location large enough to build a five-story concrete structure that would not impose on surrounding building–many of which are historic structures–has proven to be a challenge.

Sophomore Beth Davis, who said she’s had to miss class because there was no parking space, said if the school builds a deck, it must be convenient.

“If [the deck] was way off campus, I don’t think [building it is] a good idea. If it was somewhere around here where students could get to class, then it’s a good idea,” Davis said.

“What you’ve got to bare in mind on a parking deck is it needs to be convenient for the majority of the users and if it isn’t, you’re wasting your money, time and everything else,” Keim said.

“Everything around us is historic homes,” said Rick Ruark, associate director for Planning, Construction & Business Services. “If you purchase the home, then you purchase the historical integrity of the home. You have to keep in mind the size and mass of the buildings because you don’t want to overwhelm the historic districts.”

Keim said building a deck could be bad for community relations.

“We could try to build a monstrosity, but then you alienate all the people in the community and that’s not being good neighbors,” Keim said. “It isn’t a simple matter of going out, buying a couple of houses and knocking them down to build a parking deck or something like that, because you’re going to get such bad press it wouldn’t be worth it.”

Some of the proposed deck locations include the Centennial Complex and behind Adams Residence Hall, both of which have been questioned due to location. Keim said the back of Adams is very near a few historic structures and blending a deck in that location would be difficult.

Constructing a deck in the Centennial Complex raises a different question that has plagued even the most recent parking decisions: will students find it convenient enough to actually use it?

Keim said the parking problem isn’t a matter of space.

“We don’t have a parking problem, it’s a convenience problem,” Keim said. “We’ve got spaces. You have these Wilkinson Street and Irwin Street lots and we just leased a lot on Clarke Street and it’s not full. I don’t know if people don’t realize they are there, but for whatever reasons, it’s not being utilized the way it should be.”

Last fall, Ken Vance, director of public safety and member of the Milledgeville City Council, told the Union-Recorder that constructing a parking deck behind City Hall should be a priority for the city.

“The city is still going forward with looking at a downtown parking deck for the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum later this year,” Vance said. “While the final list of projects has yet to be determined, I’m still confident and hopeful that the deck will be one of them.”

Keim said that could help ease the parking issues for students and the rest of the community.

Keim and Ruark both said plans for building a deck are very preliminary and further research and planning will be required.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 8 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry