Finalized Parking Proposal Set for Trustees

Officials said the proposal would generate $2.1 million, which would cover the Department of Public Safety's budget shortfall of about $2 million.

Under the proposal, which the UNC Board of Trustees will consider next week, night parking permits would cost students $122 for the academic year and cost faculty $166. Weekend parking would remain free, but weekend parking times would begin at midnight Friday instead of at 5 p.m.

Carolyn Elfland, associate vice chancellor for campus services, said people who purchase day permits will be allowed to use them at night as well -- a measure Elfland said administrators took because they did not want to punish students, faculty and staff with day permits whose schedules require them to stay on campus past 5 p.m.

The night parking plan diverges from most of the recommendations that the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee made after extensive meetings last month. TPAC voted 18-4 on Feb. 20 for a resolution that would have increased student fees $5 each semester to help cover the DPS's budget shortfall.

Administrators said Tuesday that because it is too late to levy new student fees for the fall semester, the proposal would have required too much University contribution for the budget shortfall.

In addition, Elfland said TPAC's proposal did not leave any lots free, a cause of concern for campus administrators. "The vice chancellors group felt strongly there should be free lots," she said.

The proposal approved Tuesday allows for free parking after 5 p.m. in the Bell Tower Lot and the Bowles Lot on South Campus. Transportation from the two lots to main campus locations would be provided from 5 p.m. to midnight. Security guards also would be positioned at the lots to increase safety, administrators said.

The new proposal would not eliminate resident student parking, an idea TPAC considered. Instead, the cost of permits will rise for all permit holders, including faculty and staff. Some permit prices would go up by as much as 40 percent, Elfland said.

Of the increases, the price of parking in the park-and-ride lots will increase the most -- $102. Five hundred spaces are slated to be added to the PR lot on Estes Drive, officials said. Elfland said the fee increase is needed because the prices of PR lot permits do not cover the cost of operating the lots, citing the security needs associated with off-campus areas.

The proposal also calls for the construction of a new park-and-ride lot on Jones Ferry Road that will serve 500 vehicles. The lot at the Friday Center off N.C. 54 would be expanded to accommodate 500 to 800 vehicles as well.

The off-campus lots aim to help make up for an overall decrease of on-campus parking because of campus construction. The Ramshead Lot -- two-thirds of which is designated for student permit parking -- will be closed during the construction of the Ramshead Center, which is due to begin this summer and should take about two years, Elfland said.

To compensate for the loss of parking at the Ramshead Lot, Ehringhaus Field will be temporarily converted to a parking lot. Other changes mandated include gating four lots: 440 W. Franklin St. (N1); Porthole and Morehead (N2); Cobb, Connor and Paul Green Theater (N4); and Public Safety (S1), which Elfland said will reduce enforcement costs.

Administrators said that unlike TPAC's proposals, the plan approved Tuesday would cover the entire budget shortfall. Funds raised from the hikes would be augmented by doubling the percentage of salaries and wages each University department now is required to give to DPS, bringing the total to 0.104 percent.

Nancy Suttenfield, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said she will send out a campuswide e-mail today explaining the specifics of the proposal.

Although the plan leaves out almost all of TPAC's recommendations, Elfland said the vice chancellors considered the ideas at length in their meeting. Suttenfield said TPAC simply ran out of time to come up with a more feasible proposal.

The plan only addresses the 2002-03 year. Administrators said they hope to craft a four- or five-year parking plan.

Suttenfield said she wants to shift the campus's focus from simple parking rules to access to campus. "We can accommodate the loss of parking and still have access that is as good or better as parking."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.