University to add more parking spots

  Wednesday, August 19, 2015 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Pittsburg State students will soon have more options when it comes to parking on campus.

Steve Erwin, vice president for student life, said approximately 60 additional parking spots will be added to the north side of campus following demolition of three properties that were recently acquired by the university. The residential properties were located on Williams Street just north of Horace Mann Hall.

“All three properties were most recently being used as rental properties,” Erwin said. “We were approached by the owners or their representatives as to whether we had interest in purchasing them.  Because all three were contiguous or in close proximity to property we already owned, we were interested and subsequently made the purchase. The areas, once demolition is complete, will be put under gravel and will be used for additional parking.”

Erwin said more approximately 50 of the additional spots will be for Brown parking permits, the permit attained by most students who live off campus. The remaining spots will be for visitor parking.

“We have a high number of students who commute to and from campus, and we’re happy to be able to provide additional parking options for them,” he said. "We also welcome many visitors to campus for a variety of reasons, which is why we're adding 10-12 visitor parking spots."

Along with the additional parking, the demolition of the properties on Williams Street gave the university a chance to use its growing recycling program. Tonya Pentola, program director, said many of the materials from inside the demolished properties were donated to Habitat for Humanity.

“Much of what was inside those houses was still in good shape and could be used in other properties,” she said. “We didn’t want it to go to waste, so we worked with Habitat to make sure that material was recycled and reused.”