April 19, 2007
Members Present: Lori Bernard, Paul Bixby, Brendon Chastain, Ralph Davis, Forest Denger, Reggie Houser, Jay Huneycutt, David Martinson, Teija Kearney-Ramos, Marilyn Rogers, Gary Smith and Susan Stiers. Also attending was Elaine Quinn, secretary.
The minutes of the February 15, 2007 minutes were approved.
Report on Current Parking Status – Gary Smith
1. Summer maintenance will begin first in lot 56 on two drives on the southeast side. The concrete will be replaced in both drives. The middle section of lot 59 will be dug out and resurfaced. This project won’t be started until after Commencement and Wal-Mart.
2. A manhole will be replaced tomorrow on Dickson Street in front of the Physics Building, thus closing one lane.
3. Transit is exploring the option of running a bus to the Crowne Apartments and Southern View Apartments to determine if enough students would ride it. If the numbers warrant a route then bus service will have to be reduced somewhere else to provide this new service.
4. More bike racks on all the buses have been suggested. Transit was already checking into ordering more.
5. Jay Huneycutt reported there are over 100 stationary bike loops on campus. More will be added as space is found.
6. A few weeks ago, the “Night Owl” bus service was added on Monday and Tuesday nights. It runs a fixed route with a van from 10:30 pm until 12:30 am. This route serves the Garland Transit Facility, Pomfret Hall, lot 56, Razorback Road and the Maple Hill District.
7. Longer range readers have been installed at the Harmon Avenue Garage but some fine tuning is still being done to them.
8. Transit and Parking is offering Verbal Judo Training on May 17 and 18. All TPT members are invited to attend the training at no charge.
9. The names of the two parking structures are being changed from parking facility to garage. The Stadium Drive Parking Facility will now be called the Stadium Drive Garage (SDG). The Harmon Avenue Parking Facility will be called the Harmon Avenue Garage (HAG).
10. New Visitor Guides are available.
Jay talked about upcoming construction for campus. There is a lot happening. The utility construction plan will only affect one lane on Harmon Avenue. More efficient lighting is being installed in Ozark Hall and Walton College of Business. Lot 19 will close at the beginning of the summer for installation of two fuel storage tanks for the Heating Plant. When it’s completed about thirteen spaces will remain. Carlson Terrace and Children’s Universe will be demolished at the beginning of the summer. Parking can be added to the old LadyBack yard, the north side of Meadow Street, and to some of the demolished Carlson Terrace area with a total gain of about 500 parking spaces. Also they are looking at several sustainability issues on some construction projects. Advertising began this week for the Garland Avenue Garage and the Duncan Bridge. The Duncan Apartments will also add about 160 beds for upper classmen.
Old Business
1. Parking Plan – Gary handed out the information on the new parking plan. Many of the details still need to be resolved. The basic plan calls for everyone to be assigned to a specific parking lot with an alternate lot in case the primary lot is full. Every student, staff and faculty member will go on-line and register for up to 6 lots in which they would like to park on campus. The lots will also be renumbered by campus zone. The goal is to have 95% occupancy rate. There will be a limited number of Business Permits, allowing departments who have to do business on campus to park in other lots. The core lots will be reserved until 10 pm. There will be four tiers but no prices have been set yet. Gary would like everyone to look the information over and come up with questions or situations for review. Some members felt that the highest tier was too large and that new buses and routes should be added to make the plan better. Lori moved to table the discussion until more detailed information had been worked out. It was seconded and passed.
New Business
1. Parking lot designation changes – with an additional 718 students living in the new Maple Hill residence hall, more Student parking is needed to accommodate this increase. It was moved to change lots 72, 73, and 73A from Remote to Student parking. The motion was seconded and passed.
2. Meter increase – each year meter payments usually go up 5¢. Reggie moved to increase the rates in all surface lot meters and the ones in the Harmon Avenue Garage and Stadium Drive Garage by 5¢. It was seconded and passed. All surface meters and garage meters will now be $1.20 an hour and lot 26 will be $2.20.
The meeting was adjourned.