Paid parking at Terrace may change to 24/5
USU Parking and Transportation Services is proposing 24-hour paid parking in the Big Blue Parking Terrace Monday through Friday and extending paid hours in the Blue Premium Parking next to the University Inn.
Emily Esplin, ASUSU executive vice president and a member of the Parking and Transportation Advisory Committee, explained a resolution proposing these changes to the ASUSU Executive Council at their regular meeting Tuesday night.
Though the Executive Council does not vote on parking resolutions, Esplin said she wanted to get the council’s input before the Parking and Transportation Advisory Committee meets Monday. The bill is sponsored by the Parking and Transportation Services department.
The resolution received mixed reactions from the council.
“I’m just going to say, it looks kind of petty,” said Casey Saxton, ASUSU public relations director.
People without a permit pay to park in the Big Blue Terrace between 7:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and between 7:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Friday. Often, Esplin explained as she read the resolution, people wait to leave the terrace until after hours so they do not have to pay.
An average of 149 vehicles leave the terrace after 10 p.m., resulting in more people filling up the parking structure for the entire day and reducing the amount of space available for campus patrons to be equally served, the resolution states.
Graduate Studies Senator Brittney Garbrick said she parks in the terrace sometimes because all other spots are full when she gets to campus in the mornings.
“It’s just another thing that looks like Parking is changing policy to screw the students,” Garbrick said.
Changing the Big Blue Terrace could also impact jobs, said Charley Riddle, the Athletics and Campus Recreation vice president. If it operates 24 hours a day, the university is likely to install automatic pay machines like in the Aggie Terrace and eliminate the need to have students working there, he said.
Parking and Transportation Services Director James Nye said that would not be the case.
“We would still have a student employee there till 10 p.m., and then from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., it would be automated,” Nye said.
The resolution also changes the hours of the Blue Premium lot next to the Big Blue Terrace and University Inn, which stops charging non-permit holders after 10 p.m. If the resolution passes, non-permit holders would need to wait until 11 p.m. to leave the lot if they do not want to pay.
Matthew Anderson, the Academic Senate pro tempore who sits on the Executive Council, said bumping it an hour back would not deter students from parking there all day. It only means people will stay an hour longer to wait to leave, he said.
The problem with people parking in these two lots all day is visitors to campus have trouble finding parking when the university hosts events like conferences, Nye said.
“When we are inviting people to campus, there should be a place to park,” Nye said.
The Blue Premium lot has 155 parking stalls. Of these, six are dedicated to service vehicles, seven are handicapped stalls and 142 are dedicated to students who purchased a Blue parking permit, according to the resolution.
The Big Blue Parking Terrace, which is on Aggie Bull-evard next to the Fieldhouse and the Military Science building, has 317 stalls. One hundred permits are issued to faculty and staff for this structure, though 70 people are on a waiting list to get on, the resolution states. The remaining 217 stalls are for students, visitors and guests.
Daryn Frischknecht, the Student Advocate vice president and also a member of the Parking and Transportation Advisory Committee, said she is concerned about putting so many limits on those parking areas because people attending activities and functions want to park near campus.
“There’s a balancing act that needs to be found between the students and administration,” Frischknecht said.
The resolution proposes giving concessions in return for changing parking:
• Providing additional parking to students, faculty and staff closer to the campus core.
• Providing carpool stalls.
• Providing “ample space” for university guests and university sponsored events.
• Providing 61 additional parking stalls for students in the new Red lot west of the Merrill-Cazier Library and north of the Eccles Conference Center.
• Offering free parking and advertisement on the Big Blue Terrace electronic sign for jointly approved ASUSU events in the TSC.
• Providing “additional support to encourage student use of the Fieldhouse and HPER in the mornings and evenings for the first year free of charge.”
• Re-evaluating the parking policy change in June 2016 to look at the impacts of the changes.
The advisory committee is composed of a chair nominated by the university vice president, three Faculty Senate members, four staff, five students and a secretary. They will meet Monday to discuss the resolution and other proposed changes at 12:30 p.m. in the ASUSU Senate Chambers, TSC 336. If the resolution passes, the changes will take effect July 1, 2014.
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