Two New Parking Lots Opened for UML Students
Katrina Espiritu

UMASS Lowell’s North and South Campuses have surpassed their capacity for parking spaces which resulted in the opening of two parking lots.

The new parking lot is located in Riverside Street, ¼ of a mile from North Campus. The other parking lot is located behind the softball field on South Campus, across from the Riverside lot.

These two lots are open to students during the daytime until 5 p.m. The school’s administration decided to open these locations to students because they saw that both North and South Campus parking lots were getting over crowded between 8:00 am – 12:00 pm. According to Dean Thomas Taylor, the Dean of Student Services, members of UML’s administration searched for other lots that the school could rent from property owners in the city. Before the school picked the lots that are being used now, Dean Taylor said that the school had a few options for space, such as the Burbeck Ice Cream parking lot, located down the street from South Campus and St. Joseph Hospital’s parking, which could have provided students with 90 parking spots. However, because the school needed some lots within a certain amount of time for students, they found that the parking lot down the street from North Campus was an easy spot to obtain because the owners were readily available to speak with. As for the South Campus parking lot, the school already owned the space, which made it easy to access for student use.

Taylor said that the UML pays approximately $13,000 a year to lease the parking located on Riverside Street. The school is paying the $13,000 to a Brazilian Church Group who currently purchased the space last year. The South Campus ball field only cost the school about $500 to allow students to park there. Dean Taylor said that UML spent $500 on removing the benches and the sprinkler system from the field. As a result to the additional services of the shuttle bus, UML is paying extra money to pick up students from the overflow lot in North campus. The shuttle bus service is now driving an additional four hours a day from noon to 4 p.m. to transport students to and from the lot.

The school acknowledges that there will be damages to the ball field in South Campus; however, Taylor recognizes that it was a practical solution to the parking problem on South Campus this semester.

“It will cost some money, but the area isn’t really being used, so it was a practical decision, so students don’t have to wait. They do not have to drive around to find parking and be late for class,” Taylor said.

Although there have been more cars on campus this semester than in past few years, Dean Taylor said that the enrollment actually decreased this year. The cause of the overflow in parking is scheduling. According to Taylor, this semester the majority of students are taking classes between 8:00 am and 2:00 p.m., which is the reason why there is a problem with overcrowded parking lots.

As for the parking garage that is currently being planned, the construction is expected to start late spring of next year. If construction starts at the right time, students can expect to have a new parking garage built by fall of 2006. It will be located next to the baseball field near Bourgeois Hall. Taylor said that the garage will be able to hold 660 cars.

According to Dean Taylor, the “bad news” is that the garage could cause more parking dilemmas because Bourgeois residents may lose some of their parking spots, since the parking garage will be built where part of their lot is now. Student services is looking for additional spaces that students can use while the construction is happening. The “good news” in all this, said Taylor, is that “Students will be allowed to park when the first two levels are built [even when the garage is still under construction.]