The College of William and Mary has drastically modified on-campus parking availability in order to address an increased need for parking spaces.
Parking Services has increased faculty and staff parking spaces at Adair Hall, Morton Hall, the parking deck and on Ukrop Way from 223 spaces to 392 spaces. Day student parking spots at these locations have also been increased from 190 to 350 spots.
Campus residents, previously allotted 135 spots in the area surrounding Morton and Jones Hall, now have only 25 spaces available. Parking Services is compensating for this displacement of 110 resident spaces by allocating 24 spaces in Yates lot, 25 spaces in the Stadium/Bryan Lot and 43 spaces in the William and Mary Hall lot.
In addition, the revised parking scheme includes new angled spaces on Landrum Drive. The now one-way street between Jamestown Road and the Crim Dell contains 36 spaces.
Chris Bubb, ’10, first noticed the change when he was left with nowhere to park in the parking deck, finding that the spaces that had been marked for students during his three years at the College were no longer available.
“Initially, I was just shocked,” he said.
Bubb, who lives in the Randolph complex, is now forced to park in the William and Mary Hall lot.
Joyce Kim ’11, who lives in Reves Hall, is also upset about the parking situation on campus. Although Landrum Drive has the closest parking to her dorm, there are so few resident spots that parking there is “nearly impossible.”
Instead, Kim said she has had to park in locations like William and Mary Hall, a lot that is “extremely inconvenient for someone living in Reves.”
According to the memo issued to faculty, staff and students by the Office of Administration, the changes were made in order to shift resident spaces from academic areas to areas closer to residence halls.
“Everything dorm-wise tends to be on the other side of campus,” Assistant Manager of Parking Services Penny Mayton said.
Bubb wonders if the changes were necessary.
“There is a clear lack of parking for residents. That’s fine if we’re going to build more buildings,” he said. “But why not increase parking? More parking for more people only seems fair.”
If given the chance to offer an alternative scheme, Bubb suggested reducing the disproportionate amount of day student parking and believes that Parking Services should reallocate spots to resident students.
A working group comprised of Parking Advisory Committee members and Facilities Management personnel developed the parking arrangements.
The group gathered information on anticipated parking demand and examined a series of possible scenarios before making their decision. The group also considered input from faculty, staff and students.
Parking Services predicts that some of the temporary challenges currently facing drivers will be alleviated when construction is completed at the School of Education in the spring.
The School of Education is scheduled to open in May 2010, at which point faculty, staff and students will make the move from Jones Hall on new campus to the school’s new location off Monticello Avenue.
“Before that point, we will be re-evaluating the parking situation,” Mayton said.
Manager of Parking Services Bill Horacio could not be reached for a comment.
