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GCC Goes Solar on Parking Structure |
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For years, one of the biggest gripes students had about attending our college was the terrible parking situation. Though this problem has also impacted the faculty, staff, and administrators, those of us who employed full-time are less likely to just give up and go to another college when parking frustrations peak. It is likely that the parking problem has contributed to our recent difficulties attracting and retaining students. With the construction of the new parking structure scheduled for completion in time for the fall 2007 semester, this problem should finally be solved (at least for a while).  In addition to
providing 800 (or maybe more) parking spaces, the new structure includes
a large-scale photovoltaic (solar panel) system on the roof. The solar
array will cover (and shade) most of the top level parking areas of the
structure. At peak operation on sunny days, the system will generate up
to 400 kilowatts of power, enough electricity for several hundred
average homes. Glendale Water & Power is bearing the entire cost of
acquiring, installing and maintaining the system, as well as paying the
college about $760,000 to cover modifications to the building to provide
structural and operational support for the panels. GWP will own the
solar power system and is leasing the space on top of the parking
structure from the college for a nominal one dollar per year for 50
years. The college has already received national publicity for being
involved in this significant “green power” project.The parking structure project is actually two related projects: the parking structure itself, and the elevator tower and attached bridge that will provide easy access to it. The parking structure is the large and imposing multi-story, concrete and steel construction rising on the hillside above the main campus. The building has a footprint roughly 300 feet long and 150 feet wide. It is four levels high on the west side and five levels high on the east.
The elevator tower is located about 100 feet due east of the arched walkway outside the J. Walter Smith Student Center. When the elevator tower is completed, you will be able to hop into one of the two 10-passenger lifts, and less than a minute later you will arrive at the top of the tower, about 70 feet higher than you began. This alone will be a great improvement over the heart-pumping climb up the stairs or roadway that many students currently endure, returning to their cars at the end of a long day of classes. The parking structure stands on, and replaces, about one-third of the upper parking lot off Mountain Street, but the rest of this lot will remain intact. Even those students who do not park in the structure itself, but instead use one of the hundreds of normal parking spaces that will still remain from the original lot, will still be able to benefit from easier access the new tower will provide. The hillside location is well utilized by the parking structure design. Much like the Bhupesh Parikh Health Sciences and Technology Building that was the subject of the previous article in this series, there will be direct access to each of the first three levels of the structure from ground level at some point along the perimeter of the building. The entire west side of the first level is reserved for handicapped parking. An interesting feature of the design provides each handicapped spot with direct access to a dedicated path on the exterior of the parking structure, which provides these students with a safe passage from their vehicles to the elevator tower without having to cross any vehicle paths. Architectural features which will be added later in the construction will make the structure look less like a parking lot and more like a normal (though still quite large) building. This should make this imposing edifice perched high on the hillside more attractive, especially when viewed from a distance, hopefully moderating any possible concerns or objections from the neighbors.
The southeast corner of the building is closest to the completely new and improved access road from Mountain Street. Many changes are being made to both the parking lot entrance and Mountain Street itself which are intended to improve the traffic flow into and out of the parking structure and the adjacent surface parking. Due to concerns over traffic backing up onto the freeway bridge and off-ramps, the college was required to move the main entrance to the Upper Parking Lot as far down Mountain Street as possible. Coming down Mountain from the freeway, the entire right-hand lane will be a dedicated right-turn lane. This lane will allow vehicles to flow unimpeded into the parking lot, further avoiding any potential traffic back-ups. To support this dedicated lane, Mountain Street will be widened. To make entering from and exiting to Mountain Street safer and easier, a street light will be installed at the new lot entrance. Coming up Mountain Street, there will be two left-turn lanes to decrease the backup of cars waiting to enter the lot. Once vehicles enter from Mountain Street, newly designed traffic flow will make it easy for vehicles to move around the lot, and the multiple entrances to the parking structure should make it quick and easy to park. Because of the proximity to the new entrance road from Mountain Street, next to the vehicle entrance in the southeast corner of the parking structure will be a police/parking office. This will make it easy for students or visitors to get temporary parking permits and/or directions to campus offices. Hopefully, this new structure will provide adequate parking to meet the needs of our students, at least for a while. With any luck, the word will spread quickly that parking is no longer a problem at GCC, and within a semester or two we will see the results in increased headcount and FTES. During the construction of the parking structure, hundreds parking spaces were taken out of circulation, mainly because they were where the new structure is being built. About 130 people are involved in the off-campus parking program, which is one of the mechanisms that were put in place to try to minimize the impact on our students. Though their work schedules have been adjusted to allow for the extra travel time, these people have really not been compensated for the inconvenience involved, and I think they deserve some acknowledgement. So, thank you for your participation. It has helped us all make it through this difficult period. I would also like to thank Bill Taylor for continuing to make his time and knowledge available to me during my research for these articles. & |
