The Oxford Square will soon have a parking lot behind the Oxford-University Club to accommodate an additional 110 parking spaces. The mayor has also formed a parking committee to develop further solutions to increase parking on the Square.
HAWLEY MARTIN
hrmartin@go.olemiss.edu
A new parking lot on the Square will be available for use by the beginning of the coming fall semester.
Oxford has purchased a gravel lot on North Lamar behind the Oxford-University Club and Pita Pit and has enough funding to build a parking lot on the site.
“We’ve already bought that property and we’re just waiting on pretty weather to put in 100 more spaces up there,” Mayor Pat Patterson said.
The planned parking lot will accommodate 110 parking spaces.
Patterson said local contractors will bid to the city for the opportunity to build the parking lot, but that process has not yet happened.
The lot on North Lamar is not the only solution the city has for improving parking on the Square.
Ernest Oliver, a member of the Board of Aldermen, said the mayor has formed a parking committee to develop solutions to increase parking on the Square.
“We’re just exploring different ideas of coming up with some additional parking,” Oliver said. “Parking is premium, and of course everyone wants to park around the Square, and it’s as close to wherever they’re going as possible. That’s just human nature.”
The city is currently in the early stages of looking into purchasing land behind City Hall and City Grocery to convert to additional parking lots, but no plans have been formed or actions taken.
Both Patterson and Oliver acknowledged the need for a parking garage on the Square, but both cited funding as the primary issue preventing construction.
The mayor said there is no easy solution to generate funding for a major project like a parking garage.
“Building a parking garage is a very expensive thing to do for a town with a small budget,” Patterson said.
One option to increase funding for such a project is paid parking with meters on the Square, but the community has received this notion negatively in the past.
“Paid parking wasn’t rejected last year, but it sure was a stir,” Patterson said. “I’m not going to say we won’t ever revisit that, but we are certainly looking at other options first.”
Criminal justice junior Conrad Helms said he supports the decision to look for alternatives to paid parking.
“I’m glad the city is brainstorming ideas to increase parking,” Helms said. “I don’t think they should establish parking meters because people will get irritated with the fines, and it will lead to a lot of towing, which will further the public’s opposition to the current parking situation.”
