Mowatt Lane Garage is located between Van Munching Hall and the Commons apartment complexes, and offers both permit and visitor parking areas.
The RHA passed a resolution Tuesday recommending that DOTS implement an academic need-based parking allocation strategy, but some students are unsure the idea is feasible.
With an anticipated loss of about 1,790 parking spaces by the 2016-17 academic year, Department of Transportation Services Director David Allen has been working with the Residence Hall Association’s Transportation Advisory Committee to decide how to distribute the remaining 1,200 resident-student parking spaces.
“The way we thought about it was a points-based approach: looking at academic needs, looking at seniority, looking at whether you live in [South Campus] Commons, and figuring out if you really need a space,” committee chairman Steve Chen said.
Over the past two weeks, the RHA circulated a survey on social media to gather student opinions about how parking permits should be distributed. One question’s result indicated that 65 percent of respondents think priority should be based on a combination of academic need and seniority, and about 51 percent of respondents voted that underclassmen with academic need should be prioritized for permits over seniors who want it for convenience.
Chen wrote the resolution and the RHA members voted 27-2 in favor of the resolution, recommending that academic need, followed by seniority and then dining plan access, should be determining factors for parking distribution.
While the study is not necessarily representative of all on-campus resident students — 191 resident students completed the survey, with about 32 percent of respondents being freshmen and 18 percent sophomores — Chen said it confirmed what he suspected people wanted to see.
“It could be very hard to implement,” Chen said. “It will be difficult for people to submit documentation confirming internships or workplaces, then figuring out how to verify those, checking throughout the semester to make sure people aren’t faking it, and then having to check if that internship is close to a place accessible by public transportation.”
The plan would require some kind of points-based system to be set up, as well as a system to make sure students maintain their need for a permit, Chen said. He added that the parking situation could also potentially change completely if Purple Line light rail construction is approved to begin in 2016.
RHA senator Michael Dunkelberg, a sophomore bioengineering major, said the resolution is worthwhile because of its good intentions, even though it wouldn’t take effect until at least fall 2016.
“This resolution is simple enough, where we state our intention but stay away from the mechanics of implementation,” he said. “We are not making any final decisions right now, but it’s a foundation.”
RHA President Sree Sinha said this resolution can act as an idea, and RHA members can work with DOTS in the coming year to see whether implementation is possible.
“This is a very basic recommendation and nothing is official from this right now,” Sinha said. “This is just saying … ‘Things might change, but this is what residents have said they want to see happen.’”
Chen said it’s hard to find a perfect solution to the parking problem, and while this might be the “most complex and bureaucratic way” to handle it, he said it is the most fair.
“Ideally, this is what should happen, and I want this to happen. But when we start talking specifics, that’s what I have concerns and struggles with right now,” Chen said. “Hopefully it is something that the TAC for next year can deal with.”
