Washtenaw Community College will likely get a parking garage
Skyrocketing enrollment at Washtenaw Community College has led officials to start planning for a 600-space parking garage on the Ann Arbor Township campus.
The WCC Board of Trustees will likely authorize the project by February or March, WCC President Larry Whitworth said Wednesday. The garage would probably take 18 months to two years to build and cost an estimated $11 million. The university would borrow the money for the project and pay down debt over 20 years through its operating expenses, Whitworth said.
Drivers look for spaces in September at Washtenaw Community College. The school is considering a 600-space parking garage to ease the parking crunch and plan for increased future enrollment.
Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com
"We have a situation here where, at the beginning of the semester, we're swamped," Whitworth said. "We've looked at all the alternatives."
But the garage as a long-term solution has won out over other alternatives, such as increased shuttle services between Eastern Michigan University's Rynearson Stadium lot and the WCC campus. Officials finalized plans for increased shuttle service this week for the winter semester, but the shuttle would be considered on a semester-by-semester basis after that time. With a new garage, it would no longer be necessary, Whitworth said.
Recent enrollment growth and parking were among the topics discussed at the WCC Board of Trustees' Nov. 10 retreat. At that time, the board authorized administrators to move forward with planning for a garage.
"We did not expect this amount of growth this fast," Whitworth said. "It was a shock to end up with a better than 10 percent enrollment increase this fall. We're really experiencing the same thing for the winter semester. We were caught unawares of this fantastic growth, and we have to accommodate it."
WCC enrolled a record 14,000 students this year and has 3,000 places to park. While they're never there all at once, students running errands and planning for classes causes a crunch at the beginning of each semester.
The parking structure would likely be free to students and visitors who use it, Whitworth said, because WCC wants to remain accessible to the community.
"We do not anticipate having a fee for the parking structure," he said. "We want to make sure people have access to education. If you can't park your car and you can't get here, you can't have access."
Experts with Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority are consulting with WCC officials about the project on a volunteer basis, Whitworth said.
WCC spokeswoman Janet Hawkins said one location being eyed for a garage is east of the Crane Liberal Arts and Science building, south of the Occupational Education building, and west of the retention pond adjacent to the Morris Lawrence building. That space is currently a campus green.
Juliana Keeping covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter
Comments
Stephen Lange Ranzini
Fri, Nov 20, 2009 : 12:51 p.m.
The answer to your question, "Racerx" is that underground parking costs 4-5 times more than above ground parking structures when they are built.
racerx
Fri, Nov 20, 2009 : 3:20 a.m.
SlingBlade-that sewer smell is from the Ann Arbor Waste Water Treatment Plant near the college. The smell has nothing to do with WCC. How is it only costing $11M when the city of Ann Arbor is also building a 600 space parking garage (albeit, below ground) for $40M?
Stephen Lange Ranzini
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 11:37 p.m.
Two stops on the proposed commuter rail line, one that served both St. Joseph's Hospital and WCC and a second stop that served commuters with a direct access exit off U.S. 23 near Geddes Road would be a great long term solution as a large parking deck there would actually make sense to support commuters headed to work elsewhere and students who wanted to pay for parking and taking a shuttle to campus (the existing rail line passes right by the north side of St. Joe's and across U.S. 23 at Geddes Road). Also, the costs of these parking decks could be recouped in the long run by adding office space to fully utilize the valuable land around a train station. The office space near St. Joe's would be snapped up by medical offices that wanted to be near St. Joe's and the convenience of regional rail access. In the meantime, I agree with Woman in Ypsilanti who wrote: "WCC should give every student a free bus pass. 600 spaces should be plenty if they also encourage more people to use public transportation. It wouldn't hurt if they charged a little for parking either." That would be a good stop-gap measure while the best long term vision was pursued.
Mikey2u
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 9:45 p.m.
Students only park on the grass for the first couple of days of the semester. After that many of the student wannabes drop out of college and there are plenty of parking places to go around. WCC just built the new fitness club that no one uses and now they want a parking deck. EMU is building a sports arena and U of M bought the Pfizer buildings. They are all raising tuition and are spending money like there is no tomorrow. All of the administrators need to wake-up and realize that theyre in the middle of an education bubble that is ready to burst. The only reason they have record numbers of students is because people can not find work so they are going to school and living on student loans. Soon, record numbers of students will graduate and not be able to find jobs and record numbers of students will default on their student loans. Once this happens, the student loan money will dry up and there will be very few students attending college.
Val Losse
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 5:32 p.m.
Encourage parking at EMU by ticketing everyone that is parking on the grass. It is illegal and dangerous as they have to back onto the road to leave. They are also damaging the landscape. Increase the shuttle service during peak times. Make sure the lighting at EMU is at a high level. Parking decks are dangerous unless well lighted and has an alert security not only looking at closed circuit TV but also patrols. Nothing is free and there should be a small fee paid by all students as part of their enrollment to cover costs. The deck will never be paid off since they need to be rebuilt after 15 years due to salt damage.
Basic Bob
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 3:43 p.m.
Keep parking limited to encourage public transportation and carpooling. Use the savings to subsidize bus passes. And buy a giant air freshener to cover up the odor of the waste plant.
Sling Blade
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 12:15 p.m.
The University of Michigan Hospital system provides employee and patient/visitor parking in structures that charges everyone money to park. The WCC parking structure is a neat idea that works well on paper. Parking structures cost money for maintenance and security. Students have a hard enough time parking on a flat lot let alone in a structure. A parking structure would create a plethora of problems. WCC needs to plan things better and think ahead. WCC has some issues with overcrowding of everything including the current parking nightmare and the constant sewer smell that lingers throughout the campus. As Bill Engvall would say....Here's your sign.
Nerak
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 11 a.m.
It makes no sense to destroy a "campus green" (which, by the way, is a beautiful area) with a parking structure. The structure is needed, absolutley, but it should replace surface parking, not green space, for heaven's sake.
Woman in Ypsilanti
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 10:31 a.m.
WCC should give every student a free bus pass. 600 spaces should be plenty if they also encourage more people to use public transportation. It wouldnt hurt if they charged a little for parking either.
dading dont delete me bro
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 9:57 a.m.
wut happend to the option of bussing from over by rynerson?
treetowncartel
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 9:29 a.m.
And to think they passed up on a 120 acres down the road that they could have acquired at a third of its value.
Observer97
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 9:04 a.m.
This will be a welcome addition for the students. The shuttle service is a nice benefit, but for those of us taking night classes it doesn't provide any benefit. HappySenior raises a good question, are 600 spaces enough for the long run?
YpsiLivin
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 8:58 a.m.
The university would borrow the money for the project and pay down debt over 20 years WCC is a college, but it's an excellent one. Free parking is nice but the issue of maintenance on the structure needs to be addressed, and if anyone should know about the consequences of not maintaining parking structures, it's the DDA. Here's an idea: sell staff permits for the structure and let the students park in the surface lots for free. Use the money from the permits to maintain the parking structure. Happy Senior - Rynearson's more than up to the task of overflow parking.
HappySenior
Thu, Nov 19, 2009 : 6:48 a.m.
Lack of parking at WCC is chronic. My only concern is if 600 additional spaces are enough. Where do students park for the 2 years it will take to build this structure? Does Rynearson have adequate space for both WCC and EMU students?