Parking rules change
Residents and commuters can no longer park in any free space they find.
Lots and garages across campus have been designated for commuters or residents only.
Parking and transportation services created these policies in hopes of decreasing congestion during peak parking hours, which are from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Union and Glen Garages now have designated areas for faculty and staff, and the remainder is for commuters only.
The Towsontown Garage is primarily commuter parking, but will have faculty and staff on the lower level, about 70 spaces for visitors, and until the garage expansion is complete, a portion is for residents. The expansion is scheduled for completion by the end of the year and will produce about 500 spaces, but when Lot 5 behind Linthicum Hall closes, campus will only net gain between 200-250 spaces, according to Pam Mooney, director of parking and transportation services.
Lot 7 permits will be allowed in Lot 7a and in commuter areas of the garage until the expansion opens. Then an area of the expansion will be devoted to students with Lot 7 permits. Commuters who can't find a spot in any of the garages will need to park in the Towson Center.
Lots located closest to residence halls, 18, 22, and 26, will only be for residents, and their permits are lot specific.
Mooney said residents who did not get a residential parking permit can park at the Towson Center, but will have to move their cars when there are weekend sporting events.
"If you're up in [the Towson Center] you'll have to have your vehicle removed for those Saturdays [when there are games,]" Mooney said.
She said it is only a small portion of residents who are being pushed to the Towson Center.
"[Commuters are] happy they're going to have more spaces on the main campus and the other side is you have residents who aren't happy about it," Mooney said.
She said resident students tend to park their cars on campus and then not move them for weeks at time, making it harder for commuters to find spots in the garages. In addition, special events used to displace commuters.
Mooney said for the most part if special events are scheduled during peak hours, visitors related to those events will have to park at the Towson Center.
She said the Towson Center has about 500 spaces and even with an increased number of residents parking over there, enough spaces should remain for commuters who can't find spots in the garages.
Parking by Millennium Hall is also limited, and residents who were not issued a permit must park at the Towson Center as well.
Mooney said about 100 students who live in the Glen Towers and 100 from Millennium have Towson Center passes.
Josh Craddock, a junior exercise science major, couldn't get a Millennium Hall permit so he is parking his car at the Towson Center.
"I was kind of bummed [with a Towson Center pass] because I didn't understand why I couldn't get a resident one," Craddock said. "I just don't understand why I can't park in the Union Garage. And then I have move my car for football games? What's that?"
If spots open up later in the semester, students from Towson Center can move back to the main part of campus.
"We're looking like we'll have ample space by Towson Run. If we have available spaces, Millennium people can move from the Towson Center to Towson Run. I expect to have additional spaces in Towson Run, depending on the numbers," Mooney said.
Parking and transportation services has waiting lists with students wanting to park as close to where they live as possible.
As of Friday there were about 40 upperclassmen on the wait list for Lot 26, behind the Glen Towers, and there is also a freshmen waiting list. Students who were not issued a Lot 26 permit were issued a permit for the Towson Center.
Mooney said some students on the waiting list will be able to exchange their Towson Center permits for Lot 26 permits, but not until mid to late September.
"We will have some available. What the number is going to be is not sure; it's probably about 20 or so," she said.
Commuter reactions
"I think it's good for commuters but not on campus residents with cars. [Parking is] kind of crazy with all the construction, and it's expensive," Tivoli Thomas, a sophomore who commutes from Cockeysville, said.
Even with the new garage restrictions, the EMF major said she thinks it'll be a struggle to find parking.
Senior business administration Nathan Hedrick commutes from Harford County and called parking at Towson terrible. "You can't ever find parking and there's not enough garages," he said.
Junior Lauren Williams said she didn't even try to find parking in the garages last year when her classes were later than 8 a.m., she would go right to the Towson Center. She said she thinks moving residents out of the garages will help her find parking this semester.
"I always see people I know who live on campus parking in the garage taking my spots," the elementary education major said.
Visitor parking and shuttles
"I think there will be the biggest policy change impact [for] visitors. It was tough for them," Mooney said, stating that prior to the new policies visitor parking was scattered around campus.
She said the change in policy stemmed from needing a consistent system based on the resources of the University.
"The parking program in the past tended to evolve through exceptions and things for many years. We never sat down and looked at it," she said.
Mooney said there is discussion of building a parking garage on Lot 22 behind the Towson Run Apartments but students will pay part of the price.
"Garages have to be paid for by the permit holders," she said about permit rates increasing.
There will also be changes in the campus shuttle this year. Mooney said a lot more people use the gold route than the black route and there will now be three buses running on the gold route and one on the black route as opposed to two busses for each route.
In addition, starting Sept. 8, the shuttle that goes to the Kenilworth at Charles will also go to the Towson Town Center Mall.
Beginning Oct. 1, a shuttle will also run to Penn Station in Baltimore.
Mooney said the University is in talks with other apartment complexes to offer a shuttle service, but none have agreed yet.
"We have talked to Colony [at Kenilworth.] I think they're more interested, but still have not been willing to sign on and we're hoping maybe they'll come on in the spring," she said.
She said once Capstone Development Corp. reopens Valley View as the Towson Place Apartments, the University will talk to them about offering a shuttle service.
Mooney said at the end of last year four new parking enforcement officers were hired. Enforcement hours are 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday.
Housing and enrollment
Large freshmen classes this year and last year have put a strain on the University's housing resources, causing an increased the number of triples in residence halls and forcing students to live temporarily in the Burkshire Marriott Conference Hotel until housing can be found.
Jerry Dieringer, assistant vice president and director of housing and residence life, said about 2,150 freshmen are living on campus this year, up from 2,043 freshmen last year, and only 1,648 freshmen living on campus in 2005.
The growth in the number of freshmen seeking housing has forced the number of students placed in triples to increase to 256, up from 181 last year. Ten students are living temporarily in the Burkshire until on-campus housing can be found for them in the next few weeks. No students were placed in the Burkshire last year.
Dieringer said two large freshmen classes two years in a row has contributed to the increase in triples.
"We had a larger freshman class this year and we had a large freshman class returning, because freshmen residents are guaranteed housing for their sophomore year," he said.
To help ease housing, phase one of the West Village housing complex is being constructed between Millennium Hall and the Towson Run Apartments. Phase one will include two residence halls with a total of about 670 beds and is scheduled for completion for Fall 2008.
Dieringer said students in triples will be offered the option to move into a double by the spring.
"By spring semester we will be able to offer everyone the opportunity to move to a double. After that we'll have about 20 to 30 triples because some people just choose to stay together," he said.
Louise Shulack, director of admissions, said there are plans to continue increasing enrollment, but it would be controlled growth.
"Whether freshmen enrollment will increase is up to the president and the University System. There was supposed to be funding from the state to help support the growth, and now since some of that funding from the state is not as readily available as it was a few years ago, we're going to grow more slowly than was initially planned," Shulack said.
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