Parking wars

Parking at the SFU Burnaby campus is in for a major overhaul this fall, as development has resulted in a loss of 1000 spots for students and staff alike.

Plans for housing development by UniverCity on the Burnaby campus were finalized in March, 2013, to take place in what the university refers to as G Lot; however parking services had anticipated getting some of the space back by the fall. Instead, not only will G Lot be completely unavailable for parking, but B Lot extension (which is located north of Nestor’s beside the elementary school) is also being lost. The losses total almost 20 per cent of the university’s parking spaces.

“We always knew that we were going to lose these spaces for more development,” said David Agosti, Director of Parking Services at SFU. “But I guess because of changes in the housing market and such we were originally supposed to lose them gradually over a period of time, whereas now we’re losing them all at once.”

These losses will affect the around 700 students who normally purchase a G Lot parking permit, as well as the 100 plus students who use Visitor Lot 1 each day. The spaces being lost are some of the least expensive on campus, providing an additional challenge for students. G Lot permits usually sell for $52.27 per month, and the Visitor Lot 1 provides students with an ‘Early Bird’ rate of $3.25 for the whole day.

To alleviate the issues caused by the loss of the over 1000 spaces, Parking Services is currently in the consultation process of creating a Parking Pricing Proposal for the fall. Changes to the plan would include a two tier system that would give students the option of buying an indoor or an outdoor permit.

The outdoor permit would allow students to park in all outdoor lots, including visitor lots, and would sell for $69.88 per month — a price lower than the current B,C,D Lot prices but higher than the G lot price. The indoor permit would allow students to park in all lots (indoor, outdoor, and visitor), and would cost $95.29 per month — a price that is significantly lower than the previous West Mall, Convo Mall, and B, C, Reserved spots.

The Four Day a Week Permit as well as the UniverCity – Restricted and Unrestricted permits have been eliminated. Parking Services is determined to maintain a discounted daily rate lot, which when  located will be underneath the Discovery 1 building. Although it will cost $5 a day instead of $3.25, the area will have double the amount of spaces for students to park.

Despite these challenges, Agosti is confident that SFU will be able to accommodate its population: “We do think we have sufficient parking on campus because there are a number of spaces that are underutilised, so it is just a question of maximizing the use of every spot that’s remaining.”

Currently, there are many reserved spaces on campus that are used only intermittently throughout the week. By eliminating these reserved spots and lowering the prices of previously underutilised lots, Parking Services hopes that there will be enough space for everyone.

“I was in B Lot last semester and it was never full to capacity,” commented SFU student Emma Kehler. “It seems like a good idea to me, as far as I can tell at this point.”

Nevertheless, not all feedback has been positive: “There are some folks who are upset about losing their reserved spots,” said Agosti. “We think is more of a misunderstanding of how things will work, and so we’ve worked in terms of our responses to clarify what we think is going to happen based on what we see around campus.”

Students can contact Parking Services at parking@sfu.ca to comment on the upcoming changes, or visit the SFU Parking website to learn more. Parking Services will be going to the Board of Governors to get their plan approved for Sept. 1, and are eager to receive feedback from SFU students in the meantime. No matter the decision, students can be sure that change is imminent at Burnaby this fall.

“People will be inconvenienced, and we’re trying to minimize that,” explained Mark McLaughlin, Executive Director of Ancillary Services at SFU. “Some people will have to change their habits slightly, they might have to come a little earlier, walk a few more minutes or park in a spot they are not presently accustomed to . . . it’s a small price to pay to accommodate 1000 of our community who have no parking come September. We need all of SFU to pull together and help out.”