Parking services restricted 218 parking spaces previously available to C permit holders – mostly students – to staff (S) and faculty (A) permit holders during Winter Break.

Building projects that will begin construction next academic year and eliminate a number of parking spaces are the cause of the recent re-allotment, though Parking Services Assistant Director Bob Sundberg said no one will be left without a spot due to the change.

“We surveyed other areas of campus and found that there was still available parking for students,” he said. Lots 22, 23 and 30 had enough space available for the influx of relocated C permit holders.

Graduate Student Association President Shawn Landres said students were informed about the change and that student input, which consisted of two undergraduate and two graduate students on the Parking and Transportation Committee, was sufficient.

“Parking is a problem for everybody,” Landres said. “We have a parking crisis … In the long term, complaining about 218 [parking spaces] that are gone temporarily makes relatively little sense when we should be considering whether all these permanent [spaces for on-campus residents] should even be there.”

He added that it was “extremely poor timing” to implement the change while students were gone over Winter Break.

Lot 10 will lose over 200 parking spaces with the upcoming construction of the Engineering-Science Building, Budget and Planning Director Marty Levy said.

“The idea is to get commuters to park more around the west side of campus,” Parking and Transportation Committee Head John Doner said.

Until Jan. 18, Parking Services is issuing warning notices instead of tickets to C permits parked in spots in Lot 16 that have been reallocated, and signs and maps are posted to guide people to available parking.

“We’re issuing warnings so we can help redirect them,” Sundberg said. “We want to work with everyone so they’re given notice to go where there is available parking.”

A.S. Off-Campus Representative Brian McGuire, a member of the Parking and Transportation Committee, was in favor of the reallocation of parking, as were the other three students on the committee, he said.

“I said it was a reasonable accommodation attempt during construction instead of other alternatives because of the displaced parking from the eastside of campus,” McGuire said.