Parking fee increase debated Friday
Raising parking permit fees and building a new parking terrace were issues discussed in a Residence Hall and Student Housing Association-sponsored meeting with Parking and Transportation Services on Friday.
Lisa Leishman, director of Parking and Transportation for Utah State University, said, “We don’t know what we’re proposing as a new increase in parking permits right now, but a proposal will take place on Jan. 29 with the Parking Advisory Committee for parking next fall.”
Leishman said it was recommended to increase parking fees for the B permit from $35 to $115 for next fall by Walker Parking Construction. She said USU contracted with Walker Parking Construction to evaluate where the university currently is with increasing enrollment and parking and where it needs to be in 10 years.
“The recommended proposal will go to help subsidize a new parking terrace,” Leishman said.
Steve Mecham, campus police chief, said the new terrace, if approved, will be built at the old heating plant site with 300 possible lots.
The Office of Parking and Transportation is also looking at contracting with local chapels belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to use their parking areas as economy lots for USU, Leishman said.
“We’ve talked with them for about a year and a half and were going no where,” Leishman said.
She said it is better than the university paying to build new parking lots by charging even more for parking permits.
“Students need to understand this will save them money in the long run,” Leishman said.
Mecham also addressed the reason a portion of the 400 North parking area was changed to resident parking from general parking.
He said, “The issue was simply how far they have to walk to their residences,” because overflow parking was near the cemetery.
Students coming home with groceries, from a doctors appointment or late at night would have to walk too far to get home, Mecham said.
“It was a safety concern,” he said.
Leishman said although raising student parking permit rates would help build a new terrace, the money would also go into enforcement and maintenance of the lots.
This is one reason why the Parking Advisory Committee will also consider raising economy parking fees slightly during their upcoming meeting, Leishman said.
She said 70 percent of the existing income from parking fees goes back into the upkeep of all parking areas.
However, Leishman said, “People don’t realize we’re not doing too bad,” because the University of Utah pays $90 per year for parking, comparable to our economy parking permit.
Lisa Allen-Martinez, parking service manager at Weber State University, said their students pay $40 per year and $30 per semester for a “W” parking permit for designated lots around campus.
Allen-Martinez also said Weber has “capped parking permits,” which means they sell only a certain amount of “A” permits which allow students to park in designated lots and all other lots on campus.
This guarantees students with “A” permits will have a place to park, she said.
Yet, Allen-Martinez also said because it is first-come-first-serve, the down side to capped parking is faculty and staff get most of the “A” permits and whatever is left over goes to the students. She said last year they sold just less than 1,000 permits.
Leishman said, “[Capped parking] is something we would definitely like to look at.
“We want to make sure we have an efficient use of space so we do not oversell [permits], but we also think there should be a happy medium,” she said.
Leishman said, “Everyone who drives a car on campus should have to contribute to the overall parking.”