Students tired of parking on the sunny seventh floor of the parking garage may finally have some relief.
Plans for a 350-spot expansion and a solar panel rooftop covering for USF St. Petersburg’s parking garage are underway to eliminate that problem while generating green energy.
The garage currently has only 1,167 parking spaces. Last year, a total of 5,688 permits were sold, though this includes 1,752 daily passes and others that were sold by the semester or monthly.
Last year, $96,000 was collected in parking citations on campus. This revenue is used to maintain the parking area, pay employees, and will soon go towards expanding the garage. Maintenance efforts are also funded by parking permit fees, which will increase by about five percent in the 2013-2014 school year.
Details for the garage’s expansion are still being discussed but the process could start within the next couple of years.
Earlier this month, USFSP applied for a grant from Progress Energy to install solar panels on the roof of the garage. The plan originally called for ground panels, but the school proposed to have them installed on the roof in order to provide shade for students like Haley Christian who dread parking there.
“The sixth floor had entirely filled up, so I parked on the seventh and thought nothing of it, until I got back to my car and realized that the heat had melted the volume knobs on my stereo,” she said.
According to Julie Jakway of USFSP’s Administrative and Financial Services, the university will know if it made the list of possible sites to receive the solar panel grant by the end of February, and if it’s awarded the grant by the end of the spring semester.
“Solar panels provide an educational and sustainable opportunity,” Jakway said.
Jakway said the parking garage has never been filled to its maximum capacity, but explained that USFSP’s rapid growth makes the need for a larger parking area necessary.
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