Several dozen cars have taken up residence in Butler County Community College's Cranberry and Butler campuses.

As measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus continue, businesses such as car rentals are slowing down. And for Enterprise Rent-A-Car that means more cars are sitting on the lot.

The rental company reached out Butler County Community College this month to strike a deal allowing the company to use the campuses empty lots as overflow parking space, according to a college spokesman.

“I think we strive to be the community's college, and we try to help the community any way we can,” said Brian Opitz, the school's executive director of operations. “We saw a local business that had a need, and we were able to accommodate what they were looking for. We help out people in the community when we can.”

And with the governor's stay-at-home order in effect statewide, automobile travel has been greatly reduced and with it, the demand for rental cars, Opitz said.

With so many rental cars unused, companies such as Enterprise are looking for space to store their fleet of vehicles.

The college closed its campus to students and canceled classes last month as a precautionary measure against the spread of the coronavirus. The move has left the school's two campuses with empty lots.

Each location has about 20 to 25 cars in the lots, Opitz said.

Enterprise managers at the Cranberry and Butler locations declined to comment, citing corporate policy barring them from making public comments.

The college has set up contracts for the service running on a month-to-month basis, Opitz said.

“The move made sense because our lots are high visibility and they're under video surveillance 24/7 with campus police so security-wise, we're keeping a close eye on everything at the campuses,” Opitz said.

He said that while the school is being compensated for use of the lots, it wasn't a large amount.

“It's not about the money,” Opitz said. “This kind of thing fulfills our mission statement to help the community.”