The parking garage at the corner of Main and Walnut streets is undergoing renovation work that includes resealing and caulking through mid-December.
The City of Oxford, along with Lithko Restorations, began renovation work resealing and caulking the parking garage at the corner of Main and Walnut streets, across from the Elms Hotel.
"The project began Nov. 26 and work will continue through mid-December on the project," said Oxford Police Department (OPD) Support Services Commander Lt. Bob Holzworth.
According to Holzworth-who is in charge of the communications center at the department, records management and parking control-the goal of the project is to eliminate as much water damage as possible to prolong use of the parking garage. Construction will be focused on the upper level along with the repair of two spots in the ceiling on the second floor and the reattachment of loose cap blocks on the fourth floor.
"The garage is an open-air structure, so over time water will infiltrate from the upper levels and eventually work its way down to the lower levels," Holzworth said.
The garage, located not far from High Street, gets a great deal of day-to-day traffic that has taken its toll on the overall structure, according to Holzworth.
The garage accommodates both public and private vehicles and resident guests from the Elms Hotel. The top floor of the garage is reserved for hotel guests and the mid and lower levels are for private and public parking spaces. The resealing will affect the workings of the parking garage as a whole.
"Without anyone being able to park on the top levels of the garage, the resealing has dramatically reduced the number of available spots," Holzworth said. "The garage usually accommodates 250 to 260 cars but the resealing has displaced over 60 of these available spots."
The displaced parking spaces, which are owned by the Elms Hotel, have been temporarily moved to metered sections of the parking garage.
This is routine maintenance for the more than 5-year-old garage,
Holzworth explained. He said that resealing especially open air garages such as this one is just part of the normal upkeep for the garage.
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"A lot of people pay money and park in this garage and do not expect any water to be dripping on their cars and resealing will hopefully prevent this," Holzworth said.
For Miami University students who park in the garage regularly in private spots purchased through the city, the resealing has not seemed to have an effect.
"Parking my car in this particular garage has been very convenient and easy for me," said Miami first-year Bethany Kauffman. "The resealing has not really affected me too much because I still have a spot specifically for my vehicle and I have not noticed too much confusion from other drivers."
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