Over 1,100 student parking spaces are projected to be displaced by April 2004 due to several campus development projects and their resulting space reallocation, according to Campus Planning Office data.
Transportation Policy Committee A.S. Representative Tom Chapman reported the data to the A.S. Council last week, announcing that 1,103 “”S”” spaces are to be periodically eliminated over the next year to make room for the construction and expansion of five campus facilities.
According to CPO data, 30 “”S”” spaces are projected to be lost this month to make room for School of Medicine trailers; 175 “”S”” spaces are projected to be lost in July due to a School of Pharmacy project; 719 “”S”” spaces are projected to be lost in September due to the construction of North Campus student housing; 163 “”S”” spaces are projected to be lost in October due to School of Management construction; and 16 “”S”” spaces are projected to be lost in April 2004 due to a project at Canyonview Pool.
The TPC is currently discussing ways to limit student demand for parking or to increase space supply in anticipation of a shrinking spaces-per-capita ratio and rising peak occupancy rates on campus, Chapman reported.
“”In order to address both the loss of parking spaces and the added demand from projected student enrollment for next year, the [TPC] will be reviewing a menu of options that will address added parking capacity, additional alternative transportation measures and possible restrictions on parking demand,”” said Transportation & Parking Services Director and TPC Executive Secretary Greg Snee.
Specifically, the TPC will be discussing the implementation of parking restrictions for freshmen, construction of both temporary and permanent parking facilities, and increased incentives for use of alternative transportation programs, according to Chapman.
“”The feeling I got at the last [TCP] meeting was that freshman parking will be restricted in some way next year,”” Chapman said. “”To what degree I don’t know.””
In addition to the option of completely barring freshman parking, the TCP might also discuss implementing a lottery or need-based restriction on freshman parking, Chapman said.
The TPC will be looking at these options during its March meetings.
In a 2001 report on “”UCSD Transportation and Parking 2001-06,”” the TPC “”concluded that it would be preferable to restrict freshman residents from parking on campus because this is a policy that has been implemented successfully at many campuses around the country and because it offers the best option for ensuring reduced demand from the population of on-campus residents.””
According to the report, an estimated 1,230 parking spaces would be freed if freshmen resident parking was restricted. The report found that UCSD had a total of 14,144 permit and meter parking spaces at the end of the 2000-01 academic year.
The report, designed to recommend administrative measures that would “”ensure a sufficient parking supply, increase the scope of … transportation options and preserve the financial integrity of the transportation and parking system,”” also recommended the construction of two new parking structures and the expansion of alternative transportation programs and bicycle networks.
UCSD adopted these recommendations, among others, last year and is to implement them over the next five years, according to T & PS. UCSD is also to determine this academic year whether parking restrictions applicable to freshmen should be implemented next year, according to T & PS.
Planning for two campus parking structures is underway, according to T & PS, and the first structure, scheduled to be occupied by the 2004-05 academic year, will be located on the northwest corner of Hopkins Drive and Voigt Lane.
