Paul S. “Mike” Bitner, chairman of the MCCC board of trustees, speaks during the dedication ceremony of the renovated MCCC parking lot at 140 College Drive, Pottstown.

POTTSTOWN — Montgomery County Community College officially opened a new parking lot at its 140 College Drive site on Monday.

A parking lot dedication ceremony held in the new lot included remarks by Dr. Karen A. Stout, MCCC president; Paul S. “Mike” Bitner, chairman of the MCCC board of trustees; Kathryn Hodgkiss, director, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Middle-Atlantic Region’s Hazardous Site Cleanup Division; Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-6th Dist., Sen. John C. Rafferty Jr., R-44th Dist.; Rep. Thomas J. Quigley, R-146th Dist.; James R. Matthews, chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners; and Pottstown Borough Council President Stephen Toroney.

Formerly a stone and dirt parking lot, the new, paved 202-space parking lot has been beautified by low-energy consumption LED lighting and more than 130 new trees, shrubs and bushes.

In addition to providing much-needed parking for the college’s West Campus students, the lot is the first stage in the physical revitalization of the site, situated across from the college’s South Hall, and directly in front of Pottstown’s Riverfront Park.

The $1.2 million parking lot renovation was funded by a $500,000 Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a $37,500 grant for the LED lighting from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as MCCC funding.

Within the next two years, the college will transform the building beside the parking lot into the Riverfront Academic and Heritage Center. MCCC purchased the 140 College Drive building from the Borough of Pottstown in April 2009.

The building is a former PECO substation that currently houses the offices for the nonprofit Schuylkill River Heritage Area. Those offices will remain, but the college will construct a new environmental science center with classrooms and a state-of-the-art laboratory in an undeveloped portion of the building.

The four new SMART technology-equipped classrooms and lab space will enable MCCC to bring in new degree programs including environmental science.

The college will also partner with the SRHA to offer a number of other programs related to recreation, the environment and regional history.

“People ask me how I can get so excited about a parking lot,” said Stout in a previous interview with The Mercury. “But that building and that parking lot will help position the river in Pottstown to become a destination. On the weekends and summer evenings you’re going to see more people coming to the river with bikes and kayaks. Hopefully that will raise the visibility of the borough and people will see that Pottstown has a lot to offer.”

Expanded parking options are needed because the West Campus has experienced tremendous growth since opening in Pottstown in September 1996.

During the college’s inaugural semester, only 250 students enrolled. Last fall, the West Campus boasted a total enrollment of 10 times that at 2,543 — a 12 percent jump over the previous year.

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