Written by: Dominick Cheers
Southern Adventist University is clearing forest next to the Collegedale Spanish-American Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church, or SuCasa, for a new parking lot, according to senior vice president of financial administration Marty Hamilton. This will create needed parking spaces for both students and faculty on campus and will also open up options for future use of the remaining SuCasa building by the university.
Southern plans to allow the High Point Chinese SDA Church to use the church building located on Colcord Drive instead of Ackerman Auditorium, where its congregation currently meets, according to Hamilton. This change will happen once SuCasa’s congregation is able to meet in its new worship building on College Drive East.
The parking lot next to the remaining church building is set to be completed sometime in early March of this year. It will allow students strategic access to the Bietz Center for Student Life, Summerour Hall, Hickman Science Center and McKee Library.
Southern began clearing the section of forest next to SuCasa last month. Hamilton said one problem the university faced while clearing the forest was a natural ravine in the landscape. However, the issue was resolved when Collegedale Academy (CA) donated a large amount of dirt to the clearing project. The fill dirt came from a construction site for CA’s new elementary school building.
“Once we received the dirt from CA, the only thing left to do before construction was to start packing it into the ravine, which we’ve already begun,” Hamilton said.
According to Hamilton, he is currently working with other university administrators to select other spots around campus that could be converted into lots to accommodate staff and student parking in the near future. One of the main areas on campus that suffers from insufficient parking is the Southern Village apartments, where new parking lots will likely be prioritized, he said.
“We actually had planning meetings [on] where we could put parking, but the space next to SuCasa was a prime spot,” Hamilton said.
