Parking lot repaving at Loyalist College leaves students annoyed

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The other parking lots at Loyalist College are packed with cars now that parking lot 3 is closed for a few weeks. Photo by Jessica Schmidt, QNet News

BELLEVILLE – Loyalist College administration says the closure of one of the main parking lots at the college this week was unavoidable, but it’s still left students annoyed that it’s happening during the school year.

Lot 3, not far from the entrance to the college’s main Kente building, is closed for repaving.

Erin Murray, the manager of planning and sustainability at Loyalist, said the college tried to plan the repaving project for the summer, but due to COVID causing a backlog of jobs for contractors, it wasn’t possible.

“Ideally we wanted to be able to do it in the summer and unfortunately just from contractors’ scheduling they were not able to do so, and this was the soonest they could get it done,” says Murray.

The college wanted to get the repaving done before winter, she said, to help improve the health and safety aspects of student life on campus. Lot 3 is frequently the site of special events at Loyalist.

Students can expect the work to take around three to four weeks, barring any weather conditions causing delays, Murray said. No other parking lots are expected to be repaved this year, she added.

Map showing the available parking lots for students left after parking lot 3 was closed for construction. Courtesy of Loyalist College

Lot 3 is in the centre of the campus. It lies within a short walking distance from the front doors of the Kente building and is one of the largest lots at the college.

The repaving project has caused students to have to park farther away from both the Kente and Pioneer buildings as the others lots are filling up with the extra cars.

First-year practical nursing student Rachel Berei said that when she arrived at school Monday morning for her 8 a.m. class she had to park so far from the main building that she ended up being late to her class. 

Students are saying that it’s hard for them to find parking, even early in the morning, leaving them driving around all of the student parking lots just to try and snag a free spot. 

Second-year esthetics and spa management student Kamryn Read says she usually parks in Lot 2, close to the Pioneer building, where she has class. But now with the biggest lot being closed down, she ends up having to park closer to the main building and walk over. 

The decision to undertake such a large project at the beginning of the semester left at least some students feeling annoyed and frustrated. (QNet News spoke to them before getting the explanation from the school as to why the work is being done now. )

“I thought, ‘Poor time management.’ Definitely would have been ideal if it was done earlier. But I wasn’t angry about it – it’s just annoying. I thought it could have been planned a bit better,” Berei said.

First-year photojournalism student Leila Campbell agreed.

“Now seems a little weird, just because school just started, so I feel it’s definitely busiest now,” Campbell said.

Murray said she gets students’ frustrations but “I would ask them to understand the benefits we will see in terms of snow removal and health and safety. We have previously held events last year in that parking space. So (the repaving is) all for the betterment of the college and our community.”