By: Hayley Piazza, Staff Writer
The need for more parking at Bellarmine University has increased drastically this year because of incoming freshmen classes each year. As Bellarmine continues to grow, this will continue to be a problem for students, faculty and staff.
The administration has taken this into account and is now considering building a parking garage on campus.
“The University is exploring several elevated parking options,” said Bob Zimlich, vice president for administration and finance.
Many details of the garage have not been considered yet, including cost, square footage or number of spaces. The location is also under consideration.
“The plan is to build a multi-story parking garage in the area between the George G. Brown Center’s Frazier Hall and Knights Way, which runs alongside Knights Hall, providing additional parking capacity as Bellarmine continues to grow,” said Jason Cissell, director of media relations and social networking.
This information is the extent of any official planning.
“We are still pursuing funding for the structure, so there’s also no time line for construction,” Cissell said.
Although this is still just in prospective, it could affect students in the future.
The existing parking would be more limited during the process of building the garage.
“Any new structure that we build in the future will require additional parking spaces to be added to campus,” Zimlich said.
Students have mixed feelings on whether this is a good idea for Bellarmine.
“Property in the Highlands is so expensive that it’s understandable If Bellarmine doesn’t add a costly parking garage, especially if they plan to expand the campus on an already populated area,” senior J.D. Hawkins said.
However, the location could benefit many.
“Freshman parking is so far away and I can’t stand it,” freshman Jillian Shefult said.
The possible location would be much closer than freshman parking, where many students, not just freshman, are forced to park.
Plans for the garage are limited, but more details will be released as plans unfold.