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The Daily Tar Heel

For now, no night parking fee in sight

UNC will consider the fee when it begins its next five-year study.

It’s ultimately a policy UNC will implement in the next 10 to 15 years because of the financial burdens and cuts facing the University, said Charles Streeter, UNC Employee Forum chairman.

“It is a difficult conversation, but we are starting it now,” he said. “However, to my knowledge the decision is not something that is going to be brought up again until the next five-year plan for public safety.”

The University performs an in-depth review of parking operations, costs and rates every five years.

Randy Young, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said the University is looking at conducting a five-year study that would begin in the 2015-16 school year.

Matt Fajack, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said there will be no impact for 20 months.

“We covered the revenues that we anticipated from night parking by cutting costs in administrative areas across the campus,” Fajack said in an email without specifying which areas were cut.

Streeter said the recent split between transportation and parking and DPS will also cause some delays due to the new positions that will need to be filled.

“It is going to be a while to get some new folks added on to finance and administration to handle the two distinct sections of parking and transportation as opposed to public safety, and then they will be looking to start meeting again,” he said.

Streeter also touched on the large response received by faculty regarding the potential night parking situation.

“We had about 400 folks who sent in emails of their feedback directly to us within two to three days,” he said. “This is something that affects faculty, staff, undergraduate and also postdoc students who have no formal representation.”

Charging fees for night parking in the future could also change the dynamic of the programs that take place on campus in the evening, he said.

“A lot of staff members pointed out that their departments plan activities because of the availability of parking in the evenings,” Streeter said. “If it has to happen, we want to find that equilibrium that will make it such that it doesn’t have such a big negative impact.”

university@dailytarheel.com

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