On Oct. 4 Village residents received an email about a new paving project starting in the Village parking lots. This project adds to ongoing construction in Quad 2 and was expected to start on Oct. 14, forcing residents to move their cars in the Village lot to farther lots in the parking lot.
In the email to residents, the Residence Hall office provided residents with information on the paving project that would be fixing the building walkways, curbs and lots, causing them all to be shut down for the duration of the project. Residents were encouraged to walk using the temporary walkways provided for the time being and to follow the guidance of the caution tape surrounding the lot.
According to Dr. Michael Yankovich, Vice President for Operational and Administrative Integration, the paving work for the parking lots in the Village is a part of the Village Stairs project. The new paving project is being done by Slate Construction who was the same lead contractor for the Village Stairs project. The paving work is expected to finish around Nov. 8 by the company before the weather gets colder.
The paving project includes paving the Village parking lot to make it smoother, parking lines will be repainted, sidewalks next to the parking lot will be smoothed, curbs will be fixed, walkways will be improved and the sidewalk curb cutouts will be improved. While upgrading the curbs and sidewalks, the contractor is redesigning the handicapped parking spaces and the sidewalks to improve accessibility.
Yankovich said in an interview with The Ramapo News, “The Village Apartments parking lot is in the worst condition of all the parking lots on campus.” He said, “It is due for a routine milling and repaving.”
In the construction process, they were able to add two additional parking spaces in the Village resident parking area.
Kosta Svarnas, the construction project manager on the Village parking project said in an interview with The Ramapo News, “The reconfiguration of the curbing in the area of Quad 2 allowed for us to add these two spaces.” He said, “We felt any additional parking spaces we could add in this area would be beneficial to the Village residents.”
Construction for the project was expected to begin around 8 a.m. and conclude by the end of the regular business day. Most of the work runs the normal Monday through Friday schedule and despite it starting at the expected 8 a.m., construction can be heard by residents as early as 7 a.m.
Residents, while they are pleased with the close to end results on the walkways and the new look of the parking lot, they are not happy with the change in garbage bin placement and the overall hindrance of the construction.
For residents who live in Quad 1 and Quad 3, as Quad 2 is still closed down, there is a line of caution tape blocking off the walkthrough from the commuter lots in the parking lot to the Village parking lots behind the buildings. Students must walk all the way around the tape onto the walkways placed by the end of the Village just to get to their apartments, causing them to walk farther and past their buildings just to get onto the sidewalk.
In addition, residents’ garbage containers have been moved from the end of their buildings to the back of sometimes Quad 2 or even Quad 3. Communication with the garbage bin placement has been not fully stated to residents and has moved over the past two weeks in placement. In response, residents have placed their bags in the space where the bins are located and left it there.
Jai Collucci, a senior at Ramapo who lives in Quad 3, has had issues with the construction and has found it difficult throughout the duration of it. Collucci said in an interview with The Ramapo News, “There was no clear communication between the school and the students about what part of the Village would be blocked off. There were also no planned routes to accommodate the students who live in the Village.”
Along with the blocked off walkways and the moving bins, there have been issues with loud noise and tar smell coming from the project.. With the smells and the sounds, residents of Quad 1 and Quad 3 are not happy with the project and just want it to end.
Junior Skylar Dixon who lives in Quad 1 has had a similar experience with the construction. Dixon said in an interview with The Ramapo News, “The noise has been a huge problem, I don’t get much sleep due to staying up working on assignments until they’re finished.” He said, “Sleep is the one thing that I value the most and with all the noise being right outside the dorm buildings waking up before my alarm has been really frustrating.”
While this project is coming to a close soon, Yankovich said there are newer projects to be on the lookout for happening on campus. All the new projects hope to improve accessibility and more around campus.
rbleich@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by Rebecca Bleich
