An Open Letter to Students on Parking

As Vice President of Administrative Services, and the person ultimately responsible for parking and safety at Clark College, I am writing this open letter to students in response to your questions, concerns and advice regarding parking on the main campus.

The college provides more than 2,700 parking spots for students at the main campus, and this includes on-street parking. We understand that some of these spots are taken up by the additional part-time faculty and staff we've hired to serve you. However, after factoring in the number of students who use C-Tran (we sell 1,800 bus passes a quarter) or walk or bike, we believe there is sufficient student parking to handle peak demand on the main campus.

Still, we continue to add new parking options. This fall, the college added 50 new stalls in the Silver Lot, and 16 more will be added by December. We will also add about 100 more when the Star Building - the former public health facility just north of the T Building - comes down in the next few months.

When I talk to students about parking, I frequently hear three suggestions:

- Limit enrollment to the number of parking spots available

- Build a parking structure, or

- Charge for parking to discourage some students from driving

Let me address these one at a time.

First, enrollment is set by the state. We don't have the authority to reduce enrollment to just the number of parking spots available on the main campus.

Second, a parking structure was considered as recently as 2005. After a wide range of discussions, a college-wide task force – including Associated Students of Clark College representation - recommended not borrowing $9.1 million from the state to build a garage. The decision was based on the cost and the relatively small number of parking spaces that the structure would have provided. Then, in 2009, the City of Vancouver adopted a Central Park Parking Management Plan. This plan, which encompasses the college's main campus, strongly discourages construction of any new permanent parking.

And third, we don't want to impose new fees on our students at a time when the state has increased tuition during each of the past four years. Students, by the way, already pay a facility fee of $0.75 per credit, per quarter to help pay for our parking checkers and for maintenance and improvements of our parking lots.

None of this should be taken to mean that the college doesn't hear or understand the frustration with parking. There are, however, very practical options available to help students reduce the stress of finding a parking spot, even on the busiest day:

- Get to the main campus as early as possible. As our Director of Safety and Security likes to ask: if you were going to a sporting event or a concert, would you arrive five minutes before it began and expect to find parking right next to the arena? If the answer is ‘no,' why should going to class be treated any differently? That time before class starts doesn't need to be wasted time – it could be used for studying.

- If you can't get to the main campus early, go directly to Yellow 1, Yellow 2, or the Purple or Silver lots. One of these lots will have available parking, regardless of the day of the week or the time of day. It may not be "rock star" parking but it is available and will require only a brief 5-7 minute walk to your building.

- If you carpool, sign up for one of the carpool spots reserved exclusively for students. Contact security at 992-2429 for more information.

- Use public transportation. Students can purchase an all-zone C-Tran bus pass for just $17 per quarter.

- The peak period for classes and drivers is Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to noon.

If your schedule permits, consider taking courses in the evenings or on weekends when parking is more plentiful, Clark also offers many courses online. Please remember that after 5:30 p.m., spots marked ‘F/S' for faculty and staff are open to everyone.

If you have questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at 992-2123, or at bwilliamson@clark.edu.

I'm not trying to minimize our parking challenges, but I also believe that you – our students – can help us solve them by using any of the very doable options identified above.