The Campus/Community Planning Committee recently approved a proposal by the Transportation Policy Committee to use land for the development of four surface parking lots on East Campus. The four lots will provide approximately 975 new parking spaces.
Allocation of the new parking spots has not yet been determined, although discussion is underway for what type of spaces will be created.
“”The assumption is that, in these locations, there would be primarily ‘S’ spaces with some staff parking,”” said Assistant Vice Chancellor of Campus Planning and TPC- member Jeff Steindorf.
Construction is scheduled to begin once costs and designs are finalized. Costs for construction are approximated at $2.1 million. The C/CPC has designated the use of two locations in the Science Research Park area, an area around Thorton Hospital, and a section bordered by Genesee Avenue, Campus Point Drive and Voigt Drive.
“”We are currently working with the UCSD Office of Facilities, Design and Construction, who will develop plans, finalize cost estimates and award the construction contracts,”” said Director of Transportation and Parking Services Greg Snee.
According to the proposal submitted to the C/CPC, the campus will be unable to meet the .41 parking spaces per capita, or 90 percent occupancy goal for the 2003-04 academic year. Additionally, it is expected that the parking demands will increase for the 2004-05 academic year due to rises in student enrollment and to the recent displacement of parking spaces.
Three of the four lots will be permanent. The third lot, Lot P703, which is the area bordered by Genesee Avenue and Campus Point Drive, is also the future site for the relocation of UCSD Extended Studies. This lot would serve as a temporary space for parking and does not stop any future academic use of the area.
Meanwhile, the site proposed near Thorton Hospital was previously approved to be the site of a surface parking lot after the completion of the I-5/Gilman Bridge Project. However, delays with the bridge project prompted the T&PS to push for the immediate development of the surface lot.
The two parking lots in the Science Research Park will be built consistently to a previous plan called the SRP Development Concept, which indicates that the surface parking lots be built during phase two of its development. The Development Concept would also allow the lots to be designated for campus use in the short term.
According to Snee, the TPC had made several recommendations to the Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs, Steven W. Relyea, after reviewing the proposed parking displacement of 509 parking spaces in the next year. Additionally, new student enrollment numbers will dictate the need for additional parking.
Other recommendations that were made include the improvement of the cityshuttle system in 2003 to provide alternate options for students, faculty and staff. The TPC also proposed to re-stripe parking stalls within existing parking lots to provide supplementary parking spaces and suggested postponing the implementation of a system that would limit freshman resident parking in Fall 2003.
Even with the expectation that the demand for parking will be unprecedented in the 2003-04 academic year, the TPC has suggested that the previous recommendations would supply adequate parking. Finally, the TPC proposed the creation of a work group to develop procedures in implementing the limitation of freshman resident parking for the 2004-05 year.
“”I don’t necessarily know the intentions of the TPC, but it would appear that they are actively pursuing rectifying the parking situation by adding additional parking lots on East Campus,”” said A.S. Commissioner of Enterprise Operations Jeremy Cogan, who serves as the A.S. representative to the C/CPC. “”The new parking lots would hopefully, as stated at C/CPC, be majority ‘S’ parking lots; thus, there would be sufficient spaces on East Campus at least to meet a growing demand for spaces.””
