The first phase to rebuild the University Court parking lot storm drains and surfacing is scheduled to begin this summer.

Rex Hilligoss, the campus architect, said they expect to start construction on May 9.

“We are basically going to install an underground storm system to help drain water away from the buildings better,” Hilligoss said. “We will be tearing up all of the existing pavement and we will be re-grating and redefining where the water will run.”

Mark Hudson, the director of the Housing and Dining Services, said rebuilding the U-Court parking lots has been a long-term plan because of the problems water has been causing for the apartments.

“One of the ongoing issues with that environment is, when it was built, it was not built with storm sewers, so when you have very much rain the water runs across the parking lot and if we get a lot of rain, it can be problematic for flooding in the basement apartments,” Hudson said.

The west half of the U-Court parking lots is scheduled to be rebuilt this summer and the east half is scheduled to be rebuilt within the next two years.

Hilligoss said the primary purpose of the improvements is related to the storm drainage water run-off because it runs right into the buildings.

Hudson said two situations will be solved at once because they are planning to add storm sewers and the asphalt surfaces are going to be redone because they are deteriorating.

“When they built the parking lots, they built them with asphalt curbs and they are very broken up, which is one of the things that causes the water to run because there is not a good curbing system to keep the water going in the right direction,” Hudson said.

“This summer, there will be a round concreted curbing system built so it will be much more substantial and will serve students well.”

Hudson said the improvements will not be at any extra cost to the U-Court residents because funding was gathered from the parking fund.

“When the university parking office increased the parking fees, they were trying to raise more dollars to work on the parking lots themselves and this is one of those projects that has been waiting for funding,” Hudson said.

The University Court apartment complex was purchased 20 years ago from a private developer and, since then, the university has been making different improvements to the apartments.

“Over the years, we have done many upgrades to that environment,” Hudson said. “We have put in sprinklers, fire alarm systems, various new appliances, carpeting, roofing and in many ways we have sort of rebuilt the place.”

On April 25, the Board of Trustees will vote to approve the U-Court parking improvements.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu