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Lissann Woodrow
English 207
Professor Todd Alexander
24 July 2016
Can you find a Parking place in time for Class?
Parking has become a nightmare at COTC. Seems like more students keep
enrolling, and parking remains the same as it has for years. Even with several thousand
spaces the lot still has trouble fitting every student. In the summer the semester is short,
and so many students decide not to even come to class. More classes are offered online to
benefit the professors, which intern makes it nicer for the student who does not have to
drive in, and find a parking spot. Summer being slower is great for the benefit of the
student, but when the fall and spring semester comes around it’s a different story.
The parking lot at COTC is broken into two sections. The yellow lines and the
white lines; these indict professors park inside the yellow lines, while the students park
inside the white lines. Sounds plain and simple, but like everything there is a catch. The
campus policy is only teachers are permitted to park in the white lines. Sounds great, but
all the white lines are up front and usually are the closest to the building. Being there are
more students than professors, often there are a lot of available professor spots open.
Even if there is a spot open a student is not allowed to park there, and this is maintained
by the campus security.
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How can you tell who is a professor verse who is a student? Simple all professors
have a parking permit in their window. This is for the campus police to recognize if the
car is permitted to park in that space or not. Students at this time are not required to have
a parking permit, but all staff must have their permit in order to park in the facility
parking spots. The COTC website stats anyone who parks in permits only parking
without a permit will be towed. This is on the owner of the vehicle being towed to pay
any fees associated with impounding the vehicle. “Parking regulations are in effect and
enforced 24 hours a day. “(COTC Public Safety) Even with class being over, there are
still restrictions, making the issue even more difficult.
Even without the restrictions, parking is still a disaster. The weather can make it
worse depending on the temperature, the rain; even snow and ice make it tricky for
students to find a decent spot. There is no good parking spot on campus during bad
weather and temperature fluctuations. The parking restrictions make it even harder on the
students more so than staff. The students have farther away to park, whilst most
professors can get in and out really quick. That’s why I am suggesting a change, one that
will help improve the parking, and weather exposure, as well as take care of the
restrictions on the campus. The campus will even be more appealing to future students,
and help recruit more faculty and students to enroll in semester classes.
My plan is to build three different parking garages on the campus. All three will
attach to the school, and shelter to students and faculty from the weather. The parking
will be permit only for facility and students. This limits outsiders from using and
destroying the parking garage. By sliding a badge to open the gate to enter, and same
with exiting, the limitation for just anyone to use it will lower. The parking garages will
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not be cheap, so by producing a fee to park in the garage should be tacked onto the
student’s tuition.
With fewer staff members than students, staff would have one garage which
would be there. This will take away the restrictions, and make it more pleasing to the
campus security as well as everyone involved. All three parking garages will attach to the
school, making it easier to be accessed. The goal spot for the faculty would be the dead
center of the building while; students would be on both sides of the campus. The garages
will be both accessible inside the building and outside the buildings. By making this more
convenient for everyone’s needs, less confusion will occur.
What will happen to the left over parking spots outside of the garages? Any
parking spots not being taken up by the construction will be used visitor parking. Visitor
parking will be free for the public to use. The benefit of making the parking garages not
accessible to the public will come in handy as many use the parking lot to leave their cars
for the bike path. The path comes alongside the school as well as behind the school.
Limiting any outsiders from using this will help with spaces, and any vandalism which
might occur.
By building a parking garage, this will insure the safety of students and staff. A
garage can be monitored all hours of the day by video. Even add a security guard for
extra safety precautions. So much is going on in the world; safety is a big factor to
students, and staff. “Students and staff should be able to feel confident that they are safe
when they use campus parking facilities, yet many parking areas aren't as safe as they
should be.”(Jobin, Matt) A parking lot cannot be monitored as well as parking garages
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can be. There is more space to cover across a parking lot than in a parking garage where
it’s confined to one area. Even more of a reason to invest in a parking garage verse
adding more spaces to a parking lot.
How can the college afford to add a parking garage to the campus? OSU and
COTC are partners and share the buildings with one another. Many buildings and fixtures
have been donated, or financed through private people who want to invest their money
into something that will grow. COTC being a part OSU helps in so many ways, because
OSU is a big part of Ohio. Ohio State is very well known and appreciated throughout the
state and country due to the football, academics, band, and several other sports. It would
not be hard to obtain part of the money through donation, or fundraising without
increasing the cost of student tuition.
With cost potentially being covered, this leaves room for development and ideas.
Since the college has many engineering students, this would be easy to come up with a
blue print of the designed garage. This could be a project for an advanced or graduating
class of engineers. By doing this it will save the college even more money as the plans
are set in motion for the new parking garage.
With the blue prints, money, location, and of structures figured out, the next step
is next step would be figuring out a time limit. The project should probably start as soon
as weather breaks. The best route is only creating one garage at a time, while the
semesters are continuing on. Each garage should take roughly a year to complete if not a
little more. The process should be about three years to four depending on the weather
during the construction of the buildings.
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When places want to hire a company to build something they usually advertise
and let construction companies bid on the job. This allows the school to make the proper
financial decision in order to continue with the process of the structure. Companies, who
bid on the job, usually form a contract and stick with it until it is finished. The bidding
companies usually look at the job, and give their quote on what the cost would be. Most
businesses in construction would want something like this, because it will be something
on going, and very dependable. Also will be big revenue for their business, which means
there will be competition. This allows the school to choose something more efficient in
cost.
After the company is chosen then the process begins! There will be a mess, and
even more traffic. I think the best time to start this project will be during the summer
semester. Start a week or two before the spring semester ends, get as much completed as
possible before the fall semester comes in. Obvious things like weather and material
delay will be factored, but this allots for the time we need to establish more parking
temporally.
My suggestion to the campus during this time would be to tell the staff and
students to ride with people. There should also be no rule on staff and student parking, its
first come first serve. All students must have a parking pass, and staff as well! This
allows the campus security to remove or check status of vehicle. Another helpful
suggestion would be to advertise in the local paper about the campus being closed to the
public for parking during construction and school hours combined.
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The struggle to build these garages will be worth it in the end both financially and
conveniently. When the process begins it will drag on, and be irritating, but in the end the
students and teachers will be happy with the decision to build the garages. Since there is
no more land to build or take up the only other choice to expand parking are the parking
garages. This will make it easier on the handicap students, as well because of the close
parking, and elevators for those who need to use them.
Once a company is chosen and an estimate is written out by different companies,
the process may begin. Of course this process will not be cheap and shall hopefully have
investors willing to help with the cost. The school can compensate for the balance
remaining by charging for parking passes. This can be added to the tuition fee there is
when you begin each semester, or once and be done. The cost should not be more than
thirty-fifty bucks, and be good for an established time.
The school will need to negotiate when to start, and when to end for the winter
unless it’s a mild or moderate winter. After a selected time to start is chosen then the next
step is to figure out the situation for parking as the buildings are being completed. I
suggest one building at a time, and making sure the community is aware the campus is
closed to community during school hours or events.
After check marking all those steps, the initial excitement begins. Breaking
ground and building one garage at a time will help with the time consumption. As one
garage is finished, either facility or staff will be able to use until the rest are built. Then
there will not be as much of a parking limitation. Still no non-facility or student should be
in the parking garage, which can be monitored by parking pass he or she has.
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The process is very long and very irritating for everyone involved. The main goal
here is to make the parking more convenient and create more space for the students and
staff. The parking garages will also help the college grow, and flourish in the
development of the garages. By having new state of the art garages and the ability to
grow will stick out to future students and staff. A garage does not seem like much but it
allows people to be safe, park quicker, and monitor any threats on the campus.
I personally think a parking garage is a wonderful idea to bring to such a growing
college. The campus harbors two great schools, and is growing constantly at a rapid pace.
Starting now and eliminating the problem will save time and money later on. Starting
from the beginning to the end, there is no really good reason to why this college would
not add a garage to 3 different sections to the campus. This will be more efficient and
cheaper in the long run since there is really no maintenance to the parking spaces or
garage itself. Eliminating the parking lot or lowering the usage will decrease the amount
of money being spent on repairs.
How could this plan go wrong? Well there could be little to no investors, or the
plan can be thrown off the table by the schools committee. Why would they say no? Well
money is a big factor, which is why there are potential investors. This might mean no
garage or higher rate for the parking pass in order to compensate for the cost of the
project. Hopefully there is a change soon, especially going into fall semester where the
weather can get very inconstant and cold. This school is ready for a change and needs to
be updated to bring in more students and staff.
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Works Cited
Jobin, Matt. "Overcoming the Community College Parking Crunch."University
Business Magazine. University Business, June-July 2010. Web. 25 July 2016.
"Newark Campus Parking." Newark Campus Parking. Central Ohio Technical
College, n.d. Web. 25 July 2016.
