While Bay Port students have been complaining of not having enough parking, the district has decided to fund a new project for this summer. They are building a parking ramp.

The parking ramp will be located in the front entrance of the school, replacing the original parking lot. The project budget is $18 million, and they are hoping to complete it by the end of summer.

“It will be difficult to regulate parking during summer school, but in the end it will be worth it,” Superintendent Damian LaCroix said.

Students and teachers attending summer school will have to park in the athletic parking lot or will have to find somewhere else to park. The parking lot will be closed until the ramp is finished. The district said they will be doubling the workers to finish the ramp sooner.

“Our parking ramp will have over 3,000 parking spots, and will be multiple levels,” Principal, Mike Frieder said. “There will be six elevators and stairs for students to use to walk up to the different levels. The parking ramp will also represent our school and will be in the shape of a ship.”

The school is hoping this will solve any illegal parking at the school. Some staff and students have concerns about traffic issues going into the ramp, but there will be six entrances to the ramp, which will hopefully solve any issues.

“We are hoping to also be proactive about accidents that may happen in the parking ramp,” Officer Mark Hackett said.

The parking ramp will have many security features. There will be cameras everywhere to make sure if someone’s car gets hit, they can see who hit it; having these cameras will solve many problems with insurance. Officer Hackett also said he is hoping to solve other issues with people vaping or smoking in their car.

“The ramp will be enclosed and will be heated during the winter to help students or teachers with the snow and the low temperatures outside,” LaCroix said.

Students as well as teachers are allowed to use this parking ramp. The school is hoping that by having it enclosed and heated, it will allow students to get home sooner and easier. The district said they do not want the students to be outside scraping their car in the freezing weather and are also hoping that the ramp will allow students’ cars to start better.

“I am looking forward to having more parking spots,” junior Mimi Diamond said. “I get to school after second hour, and it is very difficult to find a spot. I am pleased to hear that every parking spot will be three feet away from each other. My beautiful 2020 McLaren 765LT needs a good safe parking spot. I shouldn’t have my car sitting in those conditions outside. It could scratch my paint.”

Many of the students at Bay Port are excited for the new parking ramp.

“It will be interesting to see how the ramp solves our issues with parking,” staff member Lyla Lovegood said. “I am glad to see something is being done to help these students. I know my students complain to me everyday about not having enough parking.”