Spring Break
Proposed deck to offer hourly spots
JENNIFER BURK
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The new deck, which is still in its early stages of development, will have nine levels, and the first two levels will be used for retail and commercial purposes, said Art Jackson, executive director of Athens Development Authority (ADA).
The plan has been in the works for five or six years, and he said the ADA has been working with a landscaping class and two interior design classes at the University to come up with the design.
The proposed site for the deck is along West Clayton Street, which he said will wrap around the Georgia Theatre on North Lumpkin and West Washington streets.
University students will have equal opportunity to purchase spaces in the half of the deck reserved for monthly parking, and he said the charge will be $45 or $50 a month, about the same as the College Avenue deck.
The remaining half of the deck will be used for hourly parking.
Joyce Hardman, University director of Parking Services, said she thinks the new deck will help students get parking places near their classes.
Although Hardman said there is no shortage of parking on campus, she said the University does not have as many spaces on North Campus as students would like.
Most parking is available on East Campus, she said.
The cost also is "pretty comparable" to what the University charges for reserved spaces -- about $50 a month, she said.
Brian Smith, a third year law student from St. Marys, parks in a North Campus lot, but he said if he hadn't been able to get a North Campus permit, he would have used the downtown deck.
"It takes so much time to take a bus from commuter lots and East Campus," he said, "And a short walk to class is preferred."
The early plans for the deck consist of four different options, Jackson said, which range from having 27,000 square feet of retail space and 1,014 parking spaces to 39,500 square feet of retail space and 852 parking spaces.
ADA also is looking at the possibility of using the top level of the deck for different functions, such as concerts and parties, he said.
If the deck is fully constructed, he said the cost will range anywhere from $18 million to $20 million.
In late winter or early spring, Jackson said ADA will propose the plans for the deck to the Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax (SPLOST) advisory, which will decide if a funding proposal will go on the November 2004 ballot.
