After two open student forums and a staff and faculty meeting, the Tarleton State University Parking Committee has come up with a list of possible solutions for our parking woes.

Residential students won’t be allowed to park in Purple Zones anymore.

“[We will be] restricting residential student parking to assigned lots and commuter parking to specific lots,” said Committee Chair and University Police Chief Matt Welch in an email to the student body. “That means residential students no longer will be able to park in commuter zones. To better accommodate residential students, some lots will be re-designated and we will add a 428 space lot across Frey Street on property which we hope to purchase from the Stephenville ISD.”

The faculty lots are getting gates.

“Major changes the committee is considering recommending include gating faculty and staff lots,” said Welch. “The faculty-staff gated lots will have the gates lifted after 5 p.m. for evening events, allowing anyone to park in those areas. However, any vehicles left overnight would be towed at the owner’s expense.”

We (might) be getting a crosswalk.

In order to better utilize the remote lot by the baseball and softball fields, Tarleton sought to receive approval from TxDOT for a crosswalk across Washington St.

“Anyone will be able to park in the remote lots off Washington by the baseball and softball fields, where a shuttle bus will take them to campus,” said Welch. “TxDOT has approved new crosswalk markings across Washington Street (a state highway) so those improvements are pending.”

We are getting a new parking lot, though.

“Additional parking spaces will be created north of the stadium on what is now recreation field C and south of the university where the old Landmark apartments were,” Welch said. “The net increase in parking spaces should improve the parking situation for next fall, offsetting the loss of spaces to construction projects.”

Improvements to the shuttle system are in the works.

The committee is looking to alleviate the expense of running golf carts around campus by re-structuring the shuttle drop-off system.

“Students expressed concern about the current shuttle system, particularly the on-campus carts,” Welch said. “That is an expense that we are looking at very closely.  It may be possible to move the shuttle bus drop-off closer to the campus core and then eliminate the daytime shuttle carts. Students also expressed safety concerns, especially leaving the Heritage parking area onto Shirley Street.”

After students called for an app that would inform them of free spaces, administration admitted that while it could be convenient, car wrecks on campus would not be.

“Some suggestions may not be feasible, such as a sensing system to tell drivers when a lot is full, since that would require drivers to access their telephones and might be hazardous,” Welch explained. “We do expect soon to have an app that will use GPS technology to tell you the location of the next shuttle bus.”

They are listening to input.

“We received some very positive suggestions from students – paving over the small park west of the library to create more close in parking, expanding the shuttle services, making bicycles more accessible and advertising the shuttle bus pickup from the remote lots. Students also suggested putting benches and a covered area at the shuttle stops, which the SGA already has recommended,” Welch said. “The open sessions provided both an opportunity for the committee to share its thinking and for students to offer their suggestions.  I will present the committee’s initial recommendations to the President’s Cabinet on March 16, and we expect to make final recommendations for this year to the Cabinet by April.”