The
A Publication of The Chronicle for Centralia College Since 2012 • www.centraliablaze.com Site 2 Total Cost: $1,300,000 Stalls at 350 sq. ft.: 143 Cost/350 sq. ft. Stall: $9,600 Stalls at 400 sq. ft.: 125 Cost/400 sq. ft. Stall: $11,000
Site 1A/6 Total Cost: $1,900,000* Stalls at 350 sq. ft.: 379 Cost/350 sq. ft. Stall: $10,000 Stalls at 400 sq. ft.: 332 Cost/400 sq. ft. Stall: $11,500
Site 3
Site 1A
CONNECTION
Total Cost: $1,700,000 Stalls at 350 sq. ft.: 175 Cost/350 sq. ft. Stall: $10,200 Stalls at 400 sq. ft.: 153 Cost/400 sq. ft. Stall: $11,600
*all total costs include acquisition, site prep and development.
Site 1
Site 1A
Total Cost: $800,000 Stalls at 350 sq. ft.: 104 Cost/350 sq. ft. Stall: $9,100 Stalls at 400 sq. ft.: 91 Cost/400 sq. ft. Stall: $10,400 Site 6
Future Home of Trans Alta Commons
Site 4
Site 5
Total Cost: $1,400,000 Stalls at 350 sq. ft.: 112 Cost/350 sq. ft. Stall: $13,000 Stalls at 400 sq. ft.: 98 Cost/400 sq. ft. Stall: $15,000
Total Cost: $1,600,000 Stalls at 350 sq. ft.: 241 Cost/350 sq. ft. Stall: $6,800 Stalls at 400 sq. ft.: 211 Cost/400 sq. ft. Stall: $7,700
Graphic By Dakota Rakestraw/ For The Blaze
An aerial photo of Centralia College’s campus shows the areas in which the proposed Master Plan calls for additional parking to be added, in an attempt to alleviate the college campus’ current parking issues.
The Master Plan: By Hallie Simons For The Blaze
Parking Garage: At a meeting on Jan. 30 with students on parking issues, Ward was asked about the potential of a parking garage. It is an idea that has already been looked at by the Master Plan committee, and is a commonly heard suggestion from the community. According to Ward, the structural material and building costs are far more than the costs of building multiple single-level parking lots, thus ruling out the idea. “Until real estate around here is so expensive that it’s cheaper to build up, I’m going to build out,” Ward said.
Acquiring the land has been a challenge, due to appraisals, paperwork, budgets, and a few reluctant homeowners, but not impossible, according to Ward. Centralia College technically has the right to exercise eminent domain over unwilling property sellers, but they
Stormwater Solutions: As a general rule, parking lots have drainage issues, especially when flood season rolls around. One of the design and cost challenges with a parking lot is a drain system that allows for storm water to be removed in an efficient manner. “Every time I put a parking lot in, I have to deal with stormwater issues,” said Ward. This is just one more aspect to the parking project that will take time to solve.
Esplanade Expansion: Currently, Centralia College owns Washington Avenue, one of the main and busiest streets through campus. The road becomes a traffic problem at peak times between classes and often becomes a hindrance to drivers trying to get out onto Main Street through the only stop light. However, the college plans to shut down the street and expand the Aadland Esplanade so that students can be safe and so that the campus can be more controlled. “We plan on having a pedestrian core,” said Ward. “There will be no parking on the streets between buildings, like we currently have with the esplanade.”
Dysfunction Junction: The stoplight at Washington Avenue and Main Street is currently the only easy-access point that students have to the main roads. The logical point of access is at the intersection of Yew and Main, since the street is wider, there are no stop signs hindering travel north or south, and it is outside the center of campus, making it safer for students to get to the rest of campus. There’s just one problem: turning left onto Main Street from Yew is all but impossible during the day, especially at peak travel hours for students. Centralia College is working with the city of Centralia to coordinate traffic through the area, and has agreed to hold off on closing Washington Avenue until the city puts in a stoplight at Yew and Main, which is sup-
posed to be within the next few years. “They’ve made it a priority to try and control traffic over there. In fact, I think it’s their number one priority,” said Ward. “If you look at the width of Washington Avenue compared to Yew, it makes sense that the traffic should be there.”
Future Growth: “Since our college is still continuing to grow,” asked J.R. Siperly of ASCC, “will it be enough parking for the future, especially when it comes to the new building?” Ward expressed hope and faith that the 200 spaces to be added will accommodate the growth of the campus with the Master Plan and with the programs Centralia College hopes to expand. “The problem that we’re going to have coming up soon is the next building,” said Ward. “What we’re working on now is how to solve the parking problems that presents. We’ve been trying to work with the city to make sure we’re ahead of the parking problem. We’ve been talking to them and our neighbors for the last four years.”
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Learn more about what the college wants to do about China Creek, Carpooling and Staff Spots.
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have refrained in all cases but one. It is important to the college to maintain friendly relationships with the local community, Ward said, and forcing people out of their homes isn’t a good way to do so. “The emotional value people have on their houses is important to us,” said Ward. “We want people to want to live next to the college, and the way to do that is by being a good neighbor. The whole idea is to be a good neighbor, and we don’t want to use eminent domain because it destroys that.” And it’s not as though every house in the area absolutely has to be purchased. “We don’t want to convert everything in the area into a parking lot,” said Ward. “We want to keep the nicer houses and take the lower ones out.” The only hinderance this presents is that in order to build a lot, there needs to be a large enough area to make the lot work well, which includes the spaces themselves and lanes for travel in between.
Parking Presents Problems
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Four thousand students on campus, plus 400 staff and faculty, equals 672 current parking spots, 100 of which will be lost with the addition of the new building in two years? That doesn’t make much sense. Luckily for Centralia College drivers, the college’s Master Plan calls for an additional 200 parking spaces to be added very soon. One hundred spaces are city-mandated, and the other 100 are to accommodate for the spaces lost with the addition of the TransAlta Student Commons (as reported in the January edition of The Blaze). “I don’t work here because I love parking, I work here because I love students. When we put that in it was temporary parking,” Steve Ward, vice president of finance and administration, said about the main parking lot. “It is absolutely critical that we put in this building for us to expand, and with that comes adding additional parking.” The 200 spaces needed will take up the area equivalent of an entire city block, though the 200 spaces will be spread out to the 40-acre campus area. When all the planned additions have been made, the Centralia College campus will be 50 to 60 acres. Thus, smaller lots will go in all around campus, so that students don’t have to park on the other side of campus from a building they need to be in. “What I’m really trying to do is take parking out of the center of campus and distribute it around the outside of cam-
pus,” said Ward. Ward explained that a main reason for this was to create a “university environment” where the center of campus is all about learning and collaboration, not parking, so that the college can operate as its own small community. “We want to conduct ourselves as our own world,” said Ward. “Whatever happens is between students, faculty and staff.”
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