The company hired to design the new STA chapel and parking lot is predicting construction to begin on the new parking lot by the first week of November, according to the head of the design team. The team is currently waiting for a construction permit from the city before they can get a contractor on campus.
The construction of the parking lot will last about four weeks, according to Gould Evans design team principal Tony Rohr.
“Your current parking lot shouldn’t be touched at all,” Rohr said. “You will only lose two spaces when we tie the two lots together, but before the start of the chapel construction, you will have a net gain of 62 spaces.”
The new parking lot will have 64 spots, which will be added to the current number of spaces. However, the space needed for the chapel will take up some spots in the current lot. When both the new chapel and parking lot have been added, STA will have 33 more spots than the current configuration.
Having more spots will be very beneficial for students who live far away so they can have a chance to get spots closer to the building, according to STA junior Rachel Shedd who lives 40 minutes away from school and has to wake up earlier than most to get a decent spot.
“The new parking lot will increase my chances of getting a spot relatively close to the school,” Shedd said. “While the weather is nice I don’t really mind the extra walk [from my car to school], but when it rains and gets colder with snow and ice I know I won’t be as appreciative of the distance.”
Shedd says having more spots is becoming increasing important, since STA is at maximum capacity and continues to grow.
“We need to make sure we have enough space to accommodate the growth [of the STA community],” Shedd said. “While it is sad to think of all the beautiful yard space that will be lost, in the end I think the pros outweigh the cons.”
According to STA president Nan Bone, the goal is to get as many students into the parking lot and off the sides of the streets surrounding campus as possible.
“We hope to get sophomores into the parking lot too,” Bone said. “Since they all get their licenses at different times, it should work out.”
According to Rohr, the Gould Evans design team is making sure their efforts are eco-friendly. They have thoroughly inspected the trees to the east of the current lot and have picked four mature trees to build the new parking lot around.
“We are trying to follow the natural topography of the land as best as possible…so that the chance of those trees surviving is higher,” Rohr said. “However, we can’t work around every tree so don’t freak out if some come down. Some of the trees coming down were very unhealthy.”
The design team also has plans to build a filtration system, called Pervious Asphalt System, under the new parking lot. This filtration system will clean rain water that runs off the lot.
“We don’t want our oily, gassy, gross rain water to go into the sewer system and then into the river,” Rohr said.  “We will not be adding any pollution to the river.”
When the parking lot is finished, the Gould Evans design team will work to beautify the lot by planting trees and shrubs on the south and east sides of the new parking lot, Rohr said.
“This lot will be very nice, with big shade trees for students to park their cars under,” Bone said. “It will be very cool.”
Rohr hopes the construction will be quick and that it won’t bother the STA students.
“We are staging construction around when the girls will be coming in and going out [during each school day],” Rohr said. “I suspect we will also put up a construction fence, just so we don’t have students wandering around in the area where the workers are.”
Both Rohr and Bone agree the current parking lot should not be affected during the construction process.
“Students shouldn’t worry about fighting for spots or coming to school early,” Bone said. “But if something changes, we will be sure to inform everyone through a SchoolReach [phone call].”
