Construction limits campus parking
Published Oct. 23, 2007
MU Parking and Transportation Services struggled to find parking spaces this year because of space-consuming construction projects.
"We were close to reaching capacity this fall," Parking and Transportation Services Director Jim Joy said.
Every year, MU evaluates whether freshmen need to be excluded from parking privileges, Joy said. The Ohio State University in Columbus is one example of a school that no longer allows freshmen to bring cars.
There are about 22,000 students, faculty and staff requiring a place to park their cars each semester at MU, and about 60 percent of students living on campus request parking permits, Joy said.
The number of parking spaces available to students varies from year to year since parking spaces are handed out on a hierarchical scale. At the top is faculty who are assigned spots by rank, then employees who are assigned spots by job title and seniority. Next comes on-campus students who are assigned spots by the number of semesters they've lived in the residence halls, and finally off-campus students are ranked by class year and whether the university employs them.
The renovations around campus have made it even harder for students to find parking.
Joy said the campus lost 400 spaces reserved for residential hall students due to the relocation of hospital staff parking because of the construction near the hospital.
He also said the lot next to Brady Commons has been removed for the expansion of the building, and those spots are not being replaced.
Parking and Transportation Services turned the building that used to house an old swimming pool into CG-17, a metered parking lot, after the building was demolished. But the new lot could be removed because it is labeled as the site of a planned academic building, Joy said.
"Next year will be better (capacity-wise) than this fall and even better the year after that," Joy said.
But that might depend on whether the hospital tears down their patient garage before or after the new parking garage by the Southeast Gateway is built. Often times, no one in Parking and Transportation Services knows exactly when the demolition will occur until it is underway, Joy said.
The Southeast Gateway garage, scheduled to be finished in the spring of 2009, will open up 2000 spots in the garage and another 1000 in surface lot spaces.
MU also rents space from the St. Thomas More Newman Center; land-owner Elvie Lee Hulett; the Islamic Center of Central Missouri; and Raul Waters Properties. If those contracts aren't renewed, then MU would lose the lots.
"None of our landlords have notified us that they are contemplating any changes or thinking about termination," Associate Business Services Director Lisa Wimmenauer stated in an e-mail.
The staff said the parking situation hasn't reached the point where they are worried.
"It's more an issue with convenience versus capacity," Joy said.
For students, on the other hand, inconvenience can make lives more hectic.
"From day to day, I don't know where I'm going to have to park," MU freshman Brian McAndrew said. "Sometimes, I have to park in the next lot over, which is still considered my lot but is a lot further away."
And the problem seems to be campus-wide.
"Parking is always an issue when 20,000 (plus) people try to file in one area," Student Affairs chairwoman Erin Moran stated in an e-mail.
Parking enforcement in lots can be distinguished by a color code on posted signs. Only students with permits for a lot marked with a red stripe can park there, but lots with a green stripe are only enforced from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.