September 14 , 2005
Members Present: Paul Bixby, Herb Cihak, Ralph Davis, Donna Daniels, Craig Edmonston, Stephen Gahagans, Gerald Golden, Reggie Houser, Jay Huneycutt, David Martinson, Bill Mock, Gary Smith, Susan Stiers, Julie Trivitt and Greg Ziser. Also present were Pamela Acosta representing the Traveler and Elaine Quinn, acting secretary.
A motion was made to approve the minutes of the April 28th meeting. It was seconded and the motion passed.
Report on Current Parking Status - Gary Smith
1. Harmon Avenue Parking Facility opened with 2,149 parking spaces on August 18th bringing the total number of campus parking spaces to over 11,500. So far 633 HAPF annual permits have been sold with 450 of those being to students. Hourly parkers can pay by cash or coin at the pay stations and with a credit card at the ExpressParc machines at the exits. We are working to be able to accept Razorbucks in the pay stations and ExpressParcs.
2. Both Harmon Avenue and Williams Street were reconstructed this summer. Duncan Avenue was also repaved.
3. Gary attended the Fayetteville City Council last night and requested an additional $10,000 for Razorback Transit, bringing the total amount requested from the city for FY06 to $60,000.
4. For FY05 Razorback Transit transported over 1.3 million riders on fixed routes and 7,650 on paratransit. We do have a driver shortage and as a result are only running two buses instead of four on the evening and Saturday routes.
5. In June the Federal Transit Administration conducted an audit of transit’s Drug and Alcohol Testing Program, completed a Triennial Review and an on site Limited English Proficiency Study with Razorback Transit.
6. This summer a 23-space lot was constructed on Lindell. The Chi Omega Sorority purchased the property and gave it to the university. An agreement based on the property value between Chi Omega and the university will let Chi Omega use the Resident Reserved lot for free for 20 years. After that time, the sorority residents will pay the going resident reserved rate to park in the lot.
7. Lot 31N was redesigned after much of the lot was lost to the construction of the Chi Alpha House.
8. Lot 15A, which is behind Phoenix House was reconstructed and paved.
9. Lot 46 was overlayed.
10. Part of lot 43 will be redesignated from Faculty/Staff to Resident Reserved, Zone 1. Due to an error in the lot count, Zone 1 was oversold by 46 permits. Since Athletics has already issued scholarship permits for lot 43, the newly designated spaces will have to be cleared for the remaining two home games. Zone 2, at Futral and Holcombe, has 60 unassigned spaces so the permit holders who must move from lot 43 will be allowed to park there between Friday and Monday of the two remaining football games weekends.
11. In the spring the outdoor track will be expanded and some parking in lot 55 will be lost to the expansion.
12. Bicycle racks have been installed on the buses that operate on the Red, Blue, Orange and Tan routes. Each rack can hold two bicycles. The bicycles are placed in the racks and removed by the rider.
13. The FY05 ticket count was 41,728, which was a little higher than FY04’s count of 38,338.
Paul sent the committee members the suggested meeting dates and times for the year. The November meeting date will be changed to the 2nd.
Old Business
None presented.
New Business
1. Jay Huneycutt brought plans of The Gardens, the 6½-acre area of Carlson Terrace west of the creek where five buildings were just demolished. The plan is to use the area for football tailgating. A special “green” parking area will also be constructed. Plastic pavers will be installed on the south and west sides of the area to allow infrequent parking but the area will still be covered with grass. The plan also includes constructing a main pavilion, several gazebos and a gatehouse that will have restrooms and storage for the band. The Arkansas Audubon Society is giving $150,000 to renovate the creek area. The plan for the renovation will be a student project. Right now no further demolition is planned.
Razorback Road, from 6th to 15th, will be reconstructed during the next year with the addition of a center median.
2. Paul commented that Staff Senate Parking Committee has had lots of discussions on pricing structure and availability of Faculty/Staff parking. They’ve talked about expanding more tiers of permit pricing based on income. He said that two years ago 40% of all faculty and staff earned less than $25,000 a year.
3. Gary said that Staff Senate also had requested being able to payroll deduct employee parking permits for 12 months instead of eight. David Martinson has been able to work this out so starting next year faculty, staff and graduate assistants will be able to payroll deduct their permit over 12 months.
4. This year, students had the option to charge their parking permit to their student account. Resident reserved permit holders also had their permit fee split over two semesters.
Currently Teaching and Faculty Support and the Parking Field Services are officed at the Harmon Avenue Parking Facility. The Bookstore branch will have food, drinks, books, supplies, a dry cleaning drop-off and car wash and oil change area when it opens later this fall.
Lot 56 Express now has stops at the Harmon Avenue Parking Facility on Harmon, on Harmon Avenue at Dickson Street, Dickson Street at Bell Engineering, and at the Harmon Avenue Parking Facility on Duncan Street before returning to lot 56.
The meeting was adjourned.