Below is the Executive Summary of a parking study conducted by Walker Parking Consultants in 2011.  During the upcoming months Public Safety will be compiling recommendations regarding parking on campus.  Please e mail me with any suggestions you would like considered.  I appreciate your interest and commitment to improving parking operations.  Open Forums are planned, please refer to your e mail announcement for complete details.

Scott Rohde

Director

Wesleyan Office of Public Safety

srohde@wesleyan.edu

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

7/27/2011

Walker Parking Consultants (WPC) has reviewed Wesleyan University’s current parking conditions with respect to supply/demand, policies and operations. The purpose of this review is to update information and recommendations provided in the Parking Management Plan (PMP) generated by Vanesse Hangen & Bruslin (VHB) back in 2003. Subsequent to the 2003 PMP, the University has completed a number of substantial master plan construction projects that include the consolidation of athletic facilities as well as the construction of on-campus student residences, a new campus center, and the expansion of a number of academic buildings.   

On-campus surface parking supply was increased at select locations along with these building projects. The 2003 VHB Parking Management Plan noted that the then planned or ongoing projects were intended to improve the quality of education and campus life for the existing University population. At that time the University had a zero growth goal for the planned horizon. Walker’s observations and analysis of the conditions indicate that the zero growth goal has largely been met with the exception of some minor student body growth in recent years. Further it is Walker’s understanding that the University intends to maintain that zero growth goal for the foreseeable future with the exceptions noted above. Wesleyan parking supply is made up of a combination of public on-street parking and University owned off street parking. The off-street parking supply is allocated to permitted users by lot assignment. The on-street parking is used on a first come basis. See figure 1 in Appendix A for parking supply location information. 

The overall parking plan for the campus has parking supply distributed around the campus core periphery. This is intended to promote safe and unencumbered pedestrian circulation at the core of campus. Walker’s general observation is that the distribution of parking is appropriate and typical of modern campus design. Further, our analysis indicates that the parking supply is adequate to address the current and future planned demand. The shifting of parking demand could require the addition of off-street parking if the remainder of ‘‘wood framed’’ house inhabitants are moved into conventional University housing or if existing supply is reduced by further campus development. However, it is our understanding that these scenarios are not scheduled for the near term planning horizon. 

With that said, there are reported concerns about the lack of parking at the core of campus. Specifically, the off-street surface lots located on Wyllys Street are highly utilized on most days. This presents challenges with respect to providing visitor parking for the nearby admissions and administrative offices as well as for assigned university users. There are similar utilization issues with respect to staff/faculty parking at Lots C, D and G. Walker’s review of the supply and demand conditions at the core of campus as well as the campus in general indicates that that supply is sufficient to address the demand. The issues reported at select parking locations are related to user’s expectations regarding proximity of available parking to their destination as well as the use of parking by unassigned users. There is a general lack of compliance with regard to University parking policy and assignment that reduces supply for the intended users. Winter parking conditions can also amplify the perceived parking capacity issues.

There is no basis for recommending the addition of off-street parking supply at this time. The addition of parking to the campus core would draw additional demand in from the periphery of campus. Added and existing parking supply further away from the campus core would be underutilized until the more proximate spaces on or off-street were occupied thereby doing little more than increasing the campus’ supply surplus. It is Walker’s summary recommendation that Wesleyan University enhance the enforcement and implementation of current parking policy as well as to consider ways to facilitate the efficient use of existing parking supply. For that purpose we offer the following for consideration:

• Enforce parking policy evenly and consistently for all off-street parking users.

• Protect and/or monitor the use of visitor parking supply with lot barriers, on-site staffing or automated lot access system(s).

• Increase parking enforcement in problematic lots.

• Review allocation of stickers for each lot. Over assignment of parking will lead to non-compliance with parking policies at other lots.

      •   Review and where applicable improve walking path(s) between  parking supply and campus destinations.

• Develop parking management plan to address fluctuating admission office visitor volume.

• Develop parking management plan for on-street parking ban conditions to facilitate the clearing of snow from off-street lots.

• Consider not allowing underclassman (freshman/sophomores) to have vehicles on campus.

• Consider implementing a stratified fee or value for parking depending on proximity to campus core.

• Consider implementing a daytime campus shuttle to promote the use of parking less proximate to campus and to minimize the use of staff/faculty vehicles for inter-campus travel.