Inside WSU

Parking plan modified

By Amy Geiszler-Jones

Sometimes it takes a newcomer to a process to spot the obvious.

One of the concerns about a parking plan proposed in July by former president Eugene Hughes was the loss of a well-lit, on-campus playing field. New WSU president Don Beggs says he has found a solution to the problem: the field in Cessna Stadium.

“As I look at it, I see that as a wonderful space to use, and I’ll tell you exactly when I started raising the question was when I was coming to one of the evening basketball games,” said Beggs. “The lights were on (in the stadium) and I looked at those lights and thought, ‘Wait a minute, we have the facility.’... That’s when I raised the question, ‘Why can’t we use that?’”

According to Roger Lowe, vice president for administration and finance and one of the architects of the parking plan, the stadium’s field more than offsets the south half of the Heskett Center’s playfields which will be converted to a 400-space parking lot.

WSU employees were informed of Beggs’ decision to move ahead with converting the playfield to asphalt as part of an overall parking plan with a Feb. 19 memo.

After Hughes had unveiled a proposal in July, a number of concerns were raised about the plan, including the loss of an on-campus playfield and the lack of campus community input. Three months later, Hughes formed a university task force with representatives from WSU’s three employee senates and student government and chaired by Lowe. The committee made its recommendations to Beggs earlier this month.

The new plan incorporates much of the original proposal with a few exceptions, while some issues still remain unresolved. Beggs felt strongly that a decision be made regarding central elements of the plan. “I think we’ve done enough talking,” he said. “There’s never going to be a consensus and so now it’s time to make a meaningful decision based on the information received. ... It’s an important issue that we need to move ahead on. In addition to the number of spaces, we need to improve our current parking space in terms of its wear.”

Some of the changes include:

• A lower charge, from $1 per pay period to 75 cents, for those earning less than $14,999. An additional category, for those earning more than $70,000, has been added to the sliding fee scale.

• No charge to the Campus Credit Union for reserved spaces. Members of the credit union are primarily faculty and staff who already will pay for parking come July 1.

• A per credit hour charge for students of $5.50, not to exceed a total of $50 per semester. Summer students will fall under the same rate structure. Students begin paying in the fall semester.

• No parking meters for visitors. Some committee members felt visitors should not be charged. Lower interest rates will offset the loss of the meter revenue, which had been estimated at $8,000 annually, Lowe said.

Community members attending events, however, will indirectly pay. Event ticket prices will still increase 50 cents starting July 1 to cover parking plan costs. Lowe said prices for faculty, staff and students will not include the 50-cent surcharge.

Items that still need to be resolved include:

• Lighting at the three new playfields at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex. “We’re going to be careful with that, in terms of lighting in a neighborhood,” Beggs said. According to a resident, when Faith Metro Church, tried to install a light for one field, the neighborhood association had concerns.

• Fees for retired faculty and staff. A $10 annual fee is being considered.

• The fate of the last remnants of Fairmount Hall. After the first building of WSU’s predecessor Fairmount College burned, salvaged bricks were incorporated into a bridge linking the parking lot south of Levitt Arena to Alumni Drive. Removing the bridge makes way for 60-70 parking spots. While WSU’s historic preservation committee has voted that the bridge has historic and artistic importance, Beggs and Lowe said they’ve not considered what to do with the stones.

So what’s next? WSU will seek Board of Regents approval of the plan in March, and legislative approval is still necessary to sell the bonds, not to exceed $7.5 million, needed to finance the on-campus improvements and additions. (Mill levy money from Sedgwick County will be used to add parking and a new entrance and finish the playfields at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex.) Following that, the on-campus playfield will be converted so that those 400 spaces will be available when construction work begins to reroute Perimeter Road and refurbish existing lots. Those changes will result in another 300 spaces. The work is scheduled to be completed between spring 2000 and spring 2003, according to Lowe.

Three new playfields are to be constructed at
the Hughes Metropolitan Complex. The grading is complete
and an underground storm sewer has been installed, an
irrigation system still needs to be installed; and planting
needs to be done. That’s on hold until parking improvements occur.