Parking changes reflected in updated Campus Master Plan
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu
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As much as 75 percent of the parking on the core campus – and 45 percent of the parking on the main campus – could disappear in the future if the university constructs new buildings on surface parking lots around campus, as indicated in the March 2007 version of the Campus Master Plan. In a March 14 memorandum to Pam Voitik, director of campus services, Bill Martin, of the consulting firm Martin/Alexiou/Bryan, said that according to the updated Campus Master Plan, the current number of 16,200 university-operated parking spaces on campus would dwindle to 12,166 spaces if no new parking facilities are opened to replace the surface lots that are expected to be lost to new construction. To compensate for the loss in surface parking, to accommodate campus growth, and to decrease personal vehicle traffic in the campus core by pushing parking to the periphery, the university will need to construct additional parking decks, Martin said. The UI currently operates five parking decks on the Urbana campus that contain a combined total of about 3,500 spaces, about 22 percent of its parking inventory. Spaces in decks typically cost about $1,500 each annually to maintain and for the cost of construction debt, significantly more than the cost of spaces in surface lots. Thus an increase in parking decks could mean higher permit fees for motorists who use them, Martin wrote. The updated master plan includes construction of a large parking facility on the south half of parking lot E14, west of Assembly Hall, to reduce parking on the main campus and provide additional spaces for the Research Park, Assembly Hall events, the conference center/hotel complex under development at the corner of First Street and St. Mary’s Road, and the athletics campus. Additionally, the new master plan includes construction of a remote, UI-operated lot at the corner of Curtis Road and South First Street that would capture traffic coming into campus from the southwest, including the new interchange under construction at the intersection of Curtis Road and Interstate 57 in southwest Champaign. According to the plan, the new lot would have shuttle service to the main campus and would provide a lower-cost parking alternative for employees, students and visitors. The plan includes future projects as well as projects that are currently under development, such as the revitalization of Orchard Downs, the expansion of the Research Park and the wind turbine farm to be constructed on the South Campus. Plans for the Research Park include possible relocation of administrative offices to the park, the addition of athletic and child-care facilities, and transportation to the main campus on a fixed guideway tram. The plans call for additional retail development around campus – such as coffee shops, restaurants, grocery stores and hardware stores – in the Research Park; in the North Campus Parking Deck, at the corner of Goodwin Avenue and Clark Street; in the revitalized Orchard Downs; in Campustown and on the east campus. A welcome center for the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences would be constructed as a campus gateway at the southwest corner of Windsor Road and Race Street to provide information about research and other activities at the college. Sasaki and Associates Inc., the consulting firm based in Watertown, Mass., which updated the Master Plan, recommended that open spaces on campus be enhanced with sustainable landscape design practices as a means of promoting biodiversity, improving storm-water infiltration and to display native plant communities. A Campus Art Committee also should be established to acquire a high-quality collection, such as outdoor sculptures, and ensure that the works are integrated into the campus landscape, the firm said. “One component of master planning is respect for historic buildings and open spaces, that they be treated as resources that could be lost if appropriate attention isn’t given,” said Lyle Wachtel, associate vice president for facilities planning and programming in University Administration. “They’re important for their historical meaning, and it’s the outlook of the campus that they be preserved. It’s one of the points of the plan that has the attention of the board of trustees.”
