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Governance Minutes ArchiveNovember 16, 1993
Parking and Transportation Committee Meeting: Nov. 16, 1993, 11:00 am - 12:25 pm Present: J. B. Sutphin Facilities Planning Pat Ballard Staff Senate Richard Alvarez Public Safety Cameron Weaver Graduate Student Assembly William R. Aliff Faculty Senate Carl Polan Immediate past chair George Sanzone Faculty Senate Widget Shannon Staff Senate Rob Moilque Graduate Student Assembly George Lux, chair Faculty Senate A. Curtis Lynch Parking Services Gail McMillan, scribe Faculty Senate Guests: Bob Criminger Associate Vice President for Facilities Peter I. Karp University Architect Lux outlined some concerns about parking and transportation on the Virginia Tech campus. Turner Street is a parking and transportation nightmare, especially when vehicles drive down the street, don't find a parking spot, and then have to drive on the sidewalk to get out of Purgatory. Bike racks in pedestrian-only areas, for example in Cowgill and Library plazas Whitemore parking lot: what will happen when the new engineering building is built? What are the plans for future parking needs at Major Williams Hall and Upper Quad? There are trade-offs between parking structures and lots. Karp's responses did a great deal to reassure the committee that planning is never done in isolation, but in close association with many areas of campus. Many of the issues Lux raised are a result, not of plans being put in motion but of very preliminary discussions. Bikes are a large and complex problem. We want to encourage students to ride bikes where it is safe for them as well as for pedestrians. An engineering building is at least six months away from going out for bid. However, the Stanger lot was paved so it would be ready to absorb parking displaced by the new building or its construction. Major Williams is going out for bids for construction; Aug. 1995 the date set for occupancy. Turner St. has been studied, discussed, but not yet in the planning stages. A major update to the University Plan is in our immediate future. The outcome will shape the university for the next 40 years. Transportation and parking are a special component of the plan and the firm hired to do the plan will be meeting on campus with lots of groups, including this committee. Criminger added that fire access to Cowgill and loading docks for Burruss must receive special consideration for life safety, access, and service in making future plans for Turner St. Sutphin added that when it was studied in the past, the decision was made not to cut down mature trees and too many parking spaces would have to be eliminated to provide for adequate turning radius to exit Turner St. The intersection of Turner and Stanger has been studied and it was determined that there was sufficient traffic to warrant making it a four-way stop but there was not sufficient traffic to warrant putting in a traffic light. Alvarez commented on the above issues also. Bike update: There are not enough bike racks, in part due to the dramatic increase in the number of bikes on campus this year. During Thanksgiving break, bike racks will be moved from under-utilized areas to areas of greater need. There has also been greater enforcement of bike rules violations. Lux suggested to the student committee members that they work with the local bike clubs and that they write articles and promote bike registration and safety. Parking update: Fees and fines are the only revenue source for the university's parking and transportation system. Fines are down, fewer tickets are begin written, voided tickets are down, and improved signage on I81 and Rt. 460 has led more people to the Visitors' Center. As a result, revenues are down $20,000 from what they were last year. The automated parking system has improved efficiencies in recordkeeping for parking registration and services. After some more testing, hand held computers will be used to produce parking tickets; therefore, this information will be downloaded nightly into the automated system, further reducing the need for data entry. Lynch also contributed some statistics about bicycle registration and ticketing. Widget reported that she is serving on a subcommittee to review graduate student leaders parking privileges. This subcommittee will recommend any needed changes in the current policies to the Parking and Transportation Committee. Sutphin raised the issue of stopping rumors by having more open discussions at the committee meetings. Today's was an excellent example of this. Sutphin is in an excellent position to keep us informed and Lux will invite Karp and Criminger to more frequently meet with the committee. Aliff asked Lynch to study the feasibility of curbside parking at Vet Med. The question was raised about online minutes. McMillan will distribute the draft of the minutes to each committee member's VM account and when they are approved, she will send them to the proper account to get them posted for university-wide access. The standard committee meeting time is 11:15 am - 12:15 pm Tuesdays as called by the chair. * * * * * * * * * * * Minutes amended and approved by the Parking and Transportation Committee on Feb. 1, 1994.
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Last modified on: Tuesday, 25-Sep-2001 13:57:44 EDT