The Arby’s that used to be along Route 13 has only been gone for a few months, and to many student’s disappointment, another food chain is expected to take its place already.
According to DelmarvaNow and the Salisbury firm Fisher Architecture, a freestanding Starbucks is coming to the area, with construction said to occur this spring.
Since there is already a Starbucks in Sea Gull Square and Cool Beans at the Guerrieri Student Union serves Starbucks coffee, many are left to wonder why the university chose not to purchase the land to use for more parking.
While the common college student enjoys Starbucks to some extent, it is rather absurd that another one is being built right across the street from the original Starbucks. With student population continuing to grow, the university wasted an opportunity to make parking lots less of a war zone.
The parking lots at Salisbury University on campus are already pretty small and despite there being plenty of expensive parking passes to hand out, the physical spots are limited. Depending on their class time, some students who drive to class must leave at least forty minutes before their class starts to fight for a spot especially at the Academic Commons parking lot.
Some students find themselves searching several lots to find a spot, which could add additional time that it takes to walk to class. All of this extra time allotted just to find a parking spot is illogical, when students could be using this time for studying or working on assignments
These tiny parking lots are not ideal when such a large percentage of students live off campus and drive to class every day. While walking is an option, the cold weather makes it inconvenient and dangerous at times.
“It is frustrating that there are never any parking on campus, and another Starbucks not even a mile away from the other one is unnecessary,” junior Rachel Hobbs said, who lives off campus and drives to class everyday.
Many of the juniors and seniors attending the university live somewhere off campus, meaning that a lot of them bring their cars to campus daily. This makes the parking lots hectic, and brings unneeded stress to those students who are simply looking for a place to park their car.
The Sea Gull Square Starbucks location has no plans to leave the area just yet, which is why so many are confused about the decision to build another.
One would think that the university would be more interested in investing more parking. Too many students have been late to class because of a lack of spots and this is something they cannot control.
While it is nice that Salisbury is recognizing that many young people and college students especially love their Starbucks, leaving their home for class on time without having to worry is the bigger issue here. There still is some hope, however.
The building that used to be Wendy’s located next to the old Arby’s is still currently empty, so the university can still add at least thirty spots. Some students have already taken advantage of this empty space and parked there.
Having this extra space would greatly reduce traffic within the current lots and make it much easier for commuters to attend class. This parking issue is beginning to affect student’s educations, which is worth way more than a cup of coffee.
By LILY BAZIS
Staff writer
Featured photo: AHBE LAB image.