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David McRaney | Journalist
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Summertime changes shuffle parking While most students were away this summer, parking management officials shuffled parking zones for students, faculty and staff - a project caused by the construction of new buildings on campus.The changes created a gain of 104 spaces since this time last year - totaling 7,573 spaces for faculty, staff and students. Seventy-six of those spaces are being added at the corner of US 49 and Hardy Street in an area often referred to as The District and are reserved for faculty and staff. In addition, a 106-space lot behind the Bobby Chain Technology Building - previously used by faculty and staff - will be converted into a visitors' lot for the new Thad Cochran Center, said Rusty Postlewate, director of the USM Physical Plant. That, he said, results in student parking being moved behind Bond Hall from along Black & Gold Boulevard, an area now be reserved for faculty. "In evaluating several options available to us, we developed a plan of action that we feel is best suited for the Thad Cochran Center and is the least intrusive to the university community who utilize the available parking on campus," said The Department of Parking Management in a prepared statement Thursday. Another change will be the inclusion of gated parking spaces near the Polymer Science building and the McCain Library. The spaces - costing $200 each and serving as a reserved lot last year - will go for $300 per space and be accessible though a card-reading device. "They will be open any day," said Postlewate. "Construction is pretty much complete. The finalizing of the electronics for card readers should be this week." That lot had 39 spaces last semester but now features 88, said Lucy Bowens, interim manager of Parking Management at USM. She said an e-mail will be sent this week to faculty and students explaining how they can purchase the spaces. Though the department has made many changes, Bowens said the price of decals will remain the same for all students, $50. She also said the university now offers a special decal for those with disabilities and special needs. Students who have yet to purchase a decal can do so by logging onto the parking management website at http://www.usm.edu/parking. But future changes in parking at USM could more dramatic than the swapping of a few spaces. According to Postlewate, it could include several large projects - including a much-rumored parking garage, thanks to recent legislation authorizing third-party financing for construction on campus. "Though this would be primarily used for revenue-producing projects like student housing, where we might provide the land and they would come in and fund all of the construction, another possibility would be a parking structure with some form of income stream to it," he said. Postlewate said one contractor has already toured the campus for such a project, but proposals have not been submitted. He said if such a building were to be constructed, he would expect the price of a parking decal to rise substantially for students to access it. Another project being considered, said Postlewate, is a mass transportation system capable of shuttling people around campus. Originally published in The Student Printz on August 24, 2007
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