A multi-level parkade could be in Western’s future, just don’t expect to see one anytime soon, said Gitta Kulczycki, Western’s vice-president (resources & operations).
Speaking to Senate regarding the ongoing construction and traffic congestion across campus, Kulczycki addressed how the university continues to expand with new buildings, and that campus lands are, of course, finite. Because of that, Western will be, and are, building on parking lots. A recent example would be Ontario Hall, which eliminated a large number of spaces.
“In the near term, we can develop other on-surface parking,” Kulczycki said. “We built a temporary expansion to the lot in the South Valley Lot between the Labatt Health Sciences Building and the Western Student Recreation Centre, but it is just that, temporary.
“Some day there will no doubt be one or more buildings there; it is a prime building site. We’ll also be expanding the Springett Parking Lot next year and that will add capacity in the longer term.”
As surface parking becomes less and less, yet demand continues to build, Kulczycki said it stands to reason the university must build a parking structure to maximize the use of the land footprint.
“There is not a specific timeframe in mind; except I can rule out in the very near term, both due to financial constraints as well as the fact we do have other options either in place and/or planned,” she said.
In the past, Kulczycki added, multi-level parkades were studied and no case could be made, but as the alternatives are exhausted, the economic and service considerations of such a structure need to be examined once again.