Trustees: Parking Plan, Construction

TRUSTEES HEAR PLAN FOR PARKING, SEEK DESIGN AND BIDS

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees on 
Friday (5/1) heard a report on a five-year master plan to improve 
parking on the Columbus campus.  Trustees also authorized the 
university to hire architects and engineers for building projects 
and seek construction bids.

Trustees receive update on master plan for parking

Trustees heard a first reading of a consulting firm's master 
plan for traffic and parking.  After reviewing the plan for a 
month, trustees will be asked to approve it, along with its 
recommendations for parking fee increases (see tables below), 
at the June meeting.

The fee increases would be used to fund additional campus 
bus service, improve maintenance of buses and garages, make 
safety improvements and develop plans for a parking garage in the 
northern section of the academic core area.

Ultimately, the plan recommends two new garages, with a 
total of 3,000 additional spaces.  The second is recommended for 
the Health Sciences area, but a separate study will be conducted 
first to determine the exact needs of that unique area, said 
Sarah Blouch, director of transportation and parking services.  
In the medical area, the constant influx of patients, the urgent 
needs of doctors and the various shifts of medical staff pose 
special challenges, she said.

In the academic core area, students would benefit from the 
additional allocation of 1,000 spaces, and visitors would benefit 
from 950 designated spaces.  There would be 550 new A permit 
spaces and 650 new B permit spaces, but those users also would 
benefit from the reduced visitor demand.

Expanded bus service will facilitate movement on campus, 
with a circulator route in the core academic area for students 
and to make work-related intracampus travel easier for faculty 
and staff.  The core circulator route also will have the added 
benefit of reducing vehicular movement between north and south 
campus.  Other transit improvements would provide more direct bus 
service from west campus to south campus, and from the Jerome 
Schottenstein Center to the academic core.

The plan calls for increases of $4.75 per month for an A 
permit, $3.17 per month for a B permit and $1.33 per month for a 
C student permit.  There would be a decrease in the short-term 
hourly rate for visitors to the campus, but a slight increase in 
long-term hourly parking fees to increase turnover of parking 
spaces.  Rates for patients in the medical center area will be 
looked at separately.  Students would pay $99 a year to park in 
the central campus area, but only $24 a year to park in the 
remote lots on west campus and take a bus to the central campus.  
Rates for the west campus lots for students, faculty and staff 
will be fixed at 25 percent of the rate for central campus, which 
represents decreases of about a third for students and more than 
50 percent for faculty and staff.

The plan recommends that fees for faculty, staff and 
students continue to increase for the duration of the five-year 
plan, but trustees would have to approve each hike after 
reviewing proposals for the use of the revenue.  At its height 
after five years, the most a permit-holder would pay to park is 
$1.80 a day.

"During the last decade especially, demands on 
transportation and parking services have greatly increased at the 
Columbus campus," Blouch said.  "New capital projects and growth 
in the number and types of educational and related services have 
presented challenges in fostering effective and efficient 
transportation on campus and in providing parking."

The consultants, Sasaki Associates Inc. of Boston, conducted 
numerous public forums earlier this year, and sought the input of 
faculty, staff and students.  Preliminary recommendations had 
called for fee increases to be phased in over a three-year 
period, but the university decided to propose a five-year 
implementation to ameliorate the impact on users.

Trustees hire designers, seek construction bids

Trustees authorized the university to hire architects and 
engineers for several projects, including three by the Medical 
Center to build ambulatory care centers in central Ohio 
communities.  The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Research 
Institute and University Hospitals will hire designers and seek 
construction bids for medical centers in Gahanna and 
Pickerington.  They will share the $13.7 million cost of the two 
facilities.

In Gahanna, the facility will be at the corner of Hamilton 
and Beecher roads, just south of Morse Road.  The Pickerington 
location will be at the corner of Hill Road North and Refugee 
Road.  University Hospitals will hire designers for a third 
community ambulatory care center, and will pay the $11.4 million 
cost.  The facility will be located at Feder Road and Evans Way 
Court, just off Hilliard-Rome Road on the city's west side.

The university also will hire architects and engineers for a 
$1.2 million renovation of Founders Auditorium in Ovalwood Hall 
on the Marion campus.  The bulk of funding for the theater 
project will come from the state, with the balance shared by the 
Marion campus and North Central Technical College.  

Housing, Food Services and Events Centers will pay $2.4 
million to replace the fire alarms in Lincoln and Morrill towers.  
And space in Bevis Hall will be renovated to provide a Transgenic 
Zebrafish laboratory.  An Ohio Board of Regents grant will fund 
the $375,000 project.


PARKING RATES
Comparison with Benchmark Institutions
University   Highest Fee           Lowest Student Fee

Arizona      $1,200                $160
Washington   $1,080                $385
UCLA         $900                  $516
Michigan     $803                  Free (very remote)
Minnesota    $799                  $399
Wisconsin    $680                   N/A
Penn State   $288                  $174
Illinois     $265 (to $533 by 2003)$265
Texas        $245                  $65
Ohio State   $231                  $37


Proposed Ohio State Fee Increases

Permit    Current   FY98-99   99-00    00-01    01-02    02-03

A Central $231     $288     $345     $396     $432     $474
A West    $156      $72$87      $99      $108     $120

B Central $122      $150      $180     $207     $225     $249
B Garage  $217      $267      $321     $365     $402     $438
B West    $84       $39       $45      $51      $57      $62

C Central $83       $99       $120     $138     $150     $165
C Garage  $217      $267      $321     $366     $402     $438
C West    $37       $24       $30      $33      $39      $42
                                
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Contact: Sarah Blouch, transportation and parking, (614) 292-9800

Written by Dave Bhaerman, University Communications, 
(614) 292-8422.