The Northern Light

Media Credit: Elisabeth Freligh / NL UAA parking fees may be paid by all students next semester if a proposal by the university's administration is accepted. The amount of the proposed fee has yet to be announced. [Click to enlarge]

Parking permits at UAA could be a thing of the past beginning next fall. Instead, all students and staff could find themselves paying a parking fee, whether they own a vehicle or not.

"Parking is the most complained about function (at UAA)," said Bill Spindle, director of business services. "We either raise permit costs in the fall or get a new system."

Because of complaints and increasing prices in general, some administrators think there needs to be a change. The proposed parking and transportation fee is one option to replace parking permits. Students would no longer have to purchase a permit; they would be able to park anywhere, all day. Spindle said the only exception is that a permit would be needed for the parking garage.

On the bright side, he said, without permits, no parking tickets would be issued.

"But you would still get a ticket for parking in the fire and handicap zone," Spindle said.

This would lighten the load for campus police and allow students to breathe easy by not having to deal with parking zones.

One complaint raised by students is that those who do not drive will be paying the fee as well, although administrators have said the plan can actually benefit most of UAA's students.

"The fee will be cheaper with more people involved," Spindle said.

Gebeyehu Ejigu, vice chancellor of administrative services, said the plan is far from finalized.

"We are seriously considering tabling the parking and transportation fee idea for now due to real and perceived implementation difficulties," Ejigu wrote in an e-mail response to questions.

Spindle said one concern is that students who do not currently have a permit may decide to use the parking lots since they will have to pay for it anyway. This raises the question of how many more vehicles the fee could add to UAA parking lots. It also raises environmental concerns, because more cars would be in use on campus daily.

As of now, during peak attendance hours, only 85 percent of parking spaces are being used, Spindle said. Parking Services has determined that 11,860 permits were sold last year, he said, 80 percent of which were all-day permits. Parking Services declined comment.

Nobu Muranaka, a sophomore physical education major, has never before purchased a permit. He initially had mixed feelings about the proposal, but later stated he feels a school-wide fee would be generally fair for everyone.

"Most of the time parking is not (completely) used," he said.

He thinks there is room to expand if more people decide to drive to school, but his main concern other than cost is the environmental impact more vehicles in use will have.

Mandy Martin, a sophomore journalism major, said she supported the proposition for economic reasons.

"If I wasn't driving to school, I wouldn't want to pay (the fee)," she said. "Since I do drive, and parking will be cheaper, I'm all for it."

Some other options the committee is considering are using "parking stations" instead of parking meters, advertising where visitors should park, making bus travel more friendly, and creating more stops for the campus shuttle. Spindle said there is talk of another parking garage; however, the typical cost to build a garage can range from $15-20 million, meaning students would eventually have to pay more.

Students can look forward to another parking area with the completion of the new science building, which could bring some temporary relief to students' parking woes. In the meantime, the administration is asking for feedback.

"There (are) plans for a broad, campus-wide consultation and discussion" regarding this change, Ejigu said. The committee will make no final decisions without the opinions of the student body.

"Unfortunately, none of this is black and white," Spindle said. "We have to weigh all the pros and cons before reaching a decision-we would love to have all the finalizing info at this point, but it is going to take a long process."

Comments or suggestions about the fee should be sent to bill@uaa.alaska.edu.

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