Students, faculty and staff have fewer parking spaces on the John Carroll University campus this semester.
Specifically, the campus lost 250 parking spaces in the temporary lot, which was restored this summer as the Hamlin Quad, named after JCU alumnus Richard Hamlin.
The temporary parking lot was originally a quad, but was transformed into parking during the building of the Dolan Science Center.
“The temporary parking lot was put in as a temporary lot to make up for parking during construction [of Dolan Science Center]. It was never meant to be permanent,” said Carol Dietz, associate vice president of facilities.
The decision to restore the parking lot as a quad was a result of several factors, according to Dietz.
The 125th anniversary of the University occurs in 2011, and the University is planning to hold commencement weekend and reunion weekend simultaneously to celebrate the occasion. In order to accommodate both events, the University needed to increase the green space on campus.
Additionally, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District assesses a fee for all property owners in northeastern Ohio to handle heavy rain and sewer run-off. The fee is based on the number of surface parking lots, roadways and rooftops on the property. JCU’s fee estimation was $36,000 with the temporary parking lot. With the temporary lot gone, the fee will decrease but there are no current estimates of what the cost will be.
Dietz said another incentive to restore the Hamlin Quad was increased sustainability on
campus and encourage more students to walk or bike to campus.
“Employee and student commuters are a large part of the carbon footprint on this campus,” said Dietz.
Also, the University had an outstanding promise to Hamlin to name the quad after him. Hamlin and 16,000 other donors contributed to JCU’s Choosing the Greater Good Campaign, which funded the approximate $90, 000 quad restoration. The restoration was funded completely by donor contributions and did not take from student tuition or from the University’s operating budget.
There are still 1,650 parking spaces remaining on campus, and as of last week, 1,475 passes were sold to students, faculty and staff, according to Patti Taylor, parking assistant. However, with fewer parking spaces available on campus, the University has implemented several changes to address any issues with parking that may arise.
CSS has hired two part-time guard house attendants to staff the main entrance to campus and keep track of the number of cars on campus and check that cars entering campus have parking passes.
An additional person may also be hired to assist the guard house attendant with the morning rush and enforce parking violation.
CSS is also increasing control of access to campus. Only the front gate is open during the day in order to keep the campus open but also control traffic flow. In previous years the Belvoir parking lot entrance has been open throughout the day as well, but is now only open after 10 p.m. on weekdays and weekends.
“We’ve been thinking for some time about increasing control of access to campus,” said Timothy Peppard, director of campus safety services. “The loss of the temporary parking lot made it a good time to do it.”
The entrances will also close when the parking capacity on campus has been reached. However, there has not been an overflow of vehicles and CSS has not had to close the front gates.
“In the first days of classes, there have been spaces open in the Belvoir lot, which is unusual,” said Peppard.
In case there was an overflow of parking, the University wanted to acquire additional parking for commuting students, faculty, staff and administrators. The University made an agreement with the management of the public parking garage at Target to make one level for JCU use. Shuttles then transport them to campus approximately every 10-15 minutes.
Two of the shuttles are the same vans that have been used to transport students to the Green Road Annex in past years and display JCU’s logo on the side. The University additionally acquired one more van, which will soon be outfitted with the University’s logo.
Commuting students who have a parking pass, but arrive at campus after the parking lots are full will be directed to the lot at Target. Some commuting students opted to park at Target; these students do not require a pass.
Freshman Rachel Skilton parks at the Target lot and rides the shuttle over to campus.
“For the most part it’s inconvenient because I have to wait for the shuttle to come,” said Skilton. “It’s nice for winter though because your car will be covered from the snow.”
Faculty, staff and administrators may also opt to park at Target and receive a $150 per semester incentive.
The University is also using zone parking in the remaining parking lots on campus. Zones are designated for faculty, staff and administrators, as well as for students. There are also zones allotted for car pools, which drivers can sign up for through the facilities department.
According to Dietz, the number of parking spaces designated for each group has not changed and this will reduce the amount of driving commuters must do when trying to find a space to park each day.
“There’s not as much driving around campus to find a spot if you know where to look,” said Dietz.
The direction one-way drive in front of the O’Malley Center, Administration Building and Boler School of Business was changed as well. According to Dietz, this was to make shuttle drives more efficient. The shuttles stop in front of the O’Malley Center and the Recplex. Before the drive direction was changed the shuttle would have to turn around in order to make both stops.
According to Dietz, things have gone smoothly the first week of school.
“We’ve been able to keep the gates open so far and there have been plenty of spaces,” said Dietz. “We’re appreciative of everyone who have been walking, biking and car pooling.”
Once the Bohannon Center is demolished, there will be more parking added on campus. However, according to Dietz, there has not been a date set for when this will happen.
