Ozarks Tech identifies preference for parking garage location, but utility issue exists

Ozarks Technical Community College has explored at least seven locations for a potential parking garage, but officials said an infrastructure issue must be addressed before moving forward.

Rob Rector, executive vice chancellor for administrative services, said a utility transmission line that bisects the Springfield campus – running east-west, halfway between Central Street and Pythian Street – needs to be relocated.

He said height restrictions and a utility line setback, or buffer, limits the college from building a parking garage or other structures nearby.

“This is not something we would have been talking about 10 years ago, but as we continue to grow, we want to have the ability to grow to the north and create that space and fulfill the needs of our region,” Rector said during a June 3 retreat for the college’s Board of Trustees. “This is the next step we’re going to have to deal with.”

In the retreat, Rector presented four options for relocating the line and estimated costs ranging from $520,000 to $1.5 million. He said the priciest option – to shift the line to the north to run along Pythian Street, an established traffic corridor – offers Ozarks Tech the most flexibility for future growth.

“That seems to make the most sense,” he said.

Asked by a board member if the line can be buried, Rector said no.

“It’s high voltage, all of this is above the tree line, it’s how you get power to substations,” he said.

Ozarks Tech officials said there have been ongoing conversations with City Utilities of Springfield, and any relocation of the line would be managed by CU and likely take one year to complete.

They said a proposal to relocate the line could go before the board as early as this fall and would include a plan to pay for the move.

“One thing the engineer said is the cost is not going to go down if we wait,” said Ozarks Tech Chancellor Hal Higdon.

The college is expected to have 2,500 parking spaces during the 2026-27 year after adding spots on the north part of campus to offset the loss of parking due to the addition of buildings on the south part. The latest project is the Michael L. Parson Student Union opening mid-August along Chestnut Expressway, just east of Sherman Avenue.

Higdon has repeatedly talked about the need for a parking garage with up to 300 spots, noting the campus is running out of space for more surface lots. An early cost estimate was $7 million, but a funding source has not been identified.

Blayne Radford, director of project management at Ozarks Tech, said seven parking garage sites were evaluated based on pedestrian and vehicle traffic patterns, proximity to buildings and other criteria.

He said the idea of combining two options on the northwest part of the campus, along Pythian Street, emerged as an early preference. The two, Lot L and Lot N, were listed on a map provided to the board and obtained by Springfield Business Journal.

Higdon described the preferred lots as the “most user-friendly” option for students.

“Vehicles don’t ever have to come into the heart of campus to go into a parking area,” Radford said of the option. “We can get them in and out and avoid the vehicular and pedestrian conflicts, something we’ve been working on for years now.”