By Kim Manahan and Jess Barranco ( Whetstone Staff Writers)

On Aug. 19, the Dover City Council voted to close parts of Cecil, Fulton and Bradford streets to traffic.

“We have not yet taken ownership,” said Eric Nelson, vice president of finance. “We still have to get the plans approved.”

Sixty-five parking spaces will be displaced, he said. The college will have to create surface or elevated parking lots to make up for these spaces.

The streets that will be affected include the ones that have Wesley owned property on each side of the street.

The project will provide a more pedestrian friendly campus and will begin within the next year.

“It’s not just about walking across the street,” Nelson said, “but making it more green and pedestrian friendly.”

The recommendation came as far back as the 1990s in the campus master plan, Nelson said.

“[President] Johnston was the first to move forward with it,” he said.

The new lot is planned to be built within the next five years.

The college may start with a surface lot and move up to something better and more permanent, Nelson said.