Expanded parking lot coming fall 2015 from MWSU Campus Watch on Vimeo.

Parking has long been a contentious issue for MSU students, and with construction of a new dorm beginning in May, more than 200 resident parking spots will be lost.

“Beginning this summer, that lot will go offline and we will lose 220 spaces, and so we have to replace those somehow,” said Keith Lamb, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management.

The answer, according to Lamb, lies in expanding an existing lot south of Prothro-Yeager.

“So we’re looking at losing 220 in Lot 14, but gaining 257 with the extension of Lot 6 South. So that’s what we’re looking at right now,” Lamb said.

The budget for the project is capped at $500,000, and Kyle Owen, associate vice president of facilities, said construction on the lot should be finished in time for the fall 2015 semester. Owen also said a recreational basketball court would be lost in the expansion.

“It’ll take out the basketball court to the east, and then to the south it’ll kind of be about 10 or 12 feet from the football sideline,” Owen said. “Whether we move the football field to south campus remains to be seen.”

But for now, Owen said the main priority is to get the 257 new spots open in time to accommodate students’ parking needs.