Lexington fed up with W&L students parking downtown

by John Allgood

Photo by Becky Aiman

Lexington planning commissioners are losing patience with Washington and Lee University students parking on city streets, and to register their resentment, they have suspended voting on the renewal of a routine building permit.

Lexington Planning and Development Director Bill Blatter said that there has been recent tension between the university and city planners. The tension comes from the university not honoring its agreements, something that was not an issue in the past, Blatter said.

Planning Commissioner Bob Lera and the other commissioners said that W&L’s “B” sticker students occupy spaces that should be used for downtown merchants and their customers. “B” sticker students are considered to live within walking distance.

“I have been asked by downtown merchants to do something about W&L students parking in front of their shops,” said Lera.
Lucia Owens, owner of Sunday’s Child toy store, 14 W. Washington St., said that there have been instances of students leaving their vehicles in front of her store for extended periods of time.

Michael L. Young, W&L’s director of security, blamed the parking shortage on the landlords who rent downtown housing to students. Young said that the landlords don’t provide parking, so the students have to park in downtown spaces.

“Students pay rent, they should have somewhere to park,” Young said. The university does not have the resources to provide parking for the 170 registered “B” sticker students, he said.

During the Sept. 29 meeting, Lera said that W&L’s deed has traditionally followed its word, but recently he has heard one thing and seen another. He cited the examples: Unsanctioned Sunday work on W&L’s new arts and music facility and inaction in dealing with its lack of parking. After the meeting, Blatter said that he was disappointed that the university had breached agreements related to the arts and music facility and the parking shortage.

Lera acknowledged that the conditional-use permit, which is for several portable trailers located in the Woods Creek Parking Lot on East Denny Circle, is being used as a means of bringing about a change in W&L’s nonchalant attitude toward its parking problem.
The commissioners have taken issue with the fact that the trailers occupy 60 parking spaces, which the university and the city do agree are in short supply. Recently, the university gave up an additional 60 spaces with the construction of its new arts and music facility, making for a net loss of 120, a shortage that Lera said is contributing to the parking problem downtown.

Offering some consolation, W&L’s Director of Facilities Management Scott Beebe told the commissioners that the university is planning to build a 25-space parking lot near the sorority houses, but that it won’t be ready until next spring.

The university describes “B” sticker students as “upper class students residing within one-half mile of Washington Hall and not living in university housing.” “B” sticker students are not allowed to park on university property between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

University officials insist that these students are not the problem.
In December 2003, a parking study conducted by the city said that “there are blocks in the northwestern quadrant [of Greater Downtown Lexington] that do not have adequate long term parking, primarily related to the student parking at Washington and Lee University.”

But the 43-page report concluded that university-related parking was at the lower end of the spectrum of problems and fixing university parking was not on the consultant’s list of solutions to downtown’s parking problems.                                                                              

Joseph Grasso, W&L’s vice president for administration, cited the report to argue that W&L students were not the problem. He said the students are customers who generate lots of revenue downtown “they should be able to park there.”

Hunter Dawkins, a junior at W&L with “B” sticker parking privileges, admitted that “B” sticker students like him are to blame for the parking shortage downtown. Instead of walking to campus, Dawkins, who lives on Randolph Street, said that he “almost always” drives and parks his car closer to campus.

“I park across from the Lenfest Center or in 12-hour parking next to the post office,” Dawkins said.

Alex Appel, a senior who lives near the intersection of Jefferson and McDowell streets, had complaints about “B” sticker restrictions. “It’s terrible,” he said. Like Dawkins, Appel said that he often drives closer to campus.

W&L students who register their vehicle with the university during the summer pre-registration period are charged $50. Those who wait until school begins are charged $75, said Young. The funds collected from vehicle registration go into the university general fund, he said.

Dawkins and Appel said that it was “unfair” for the university to charge them $50 for a parking permit that only allowed them to use university parking on the weekends and at night.

The commissioners will next discuss the conditional use permit for the trailers in the Woods Creek Parking Lot at their October 13 meeting. Until then, the university plans to work with the city to fix the problem.

“I’m reluctant to vote in favor until I see how W&L is going to handle parking in the immediate future,” Lera said.

The 2003 parking study cites many causes for the problem downtown, it’s not clear that the university is a problem, said W&L Architect Tom Contos. “It’s going to be good to sit down and look at this issue for once and for all,” he said.

Planning Commission Chairman Ron Smith said that the solution to the city’s problem will be the parking garage that will be constructed next to the Rockbridge County Courthouse, which will be located at the corner of Nelson and Randolph streets. There is a court order for this facility to be in use by May 20, 2008, said Rockbridge County Engineer Tom Higgins.

Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.

Lead supervisor:      Prof. Claudette Artwick

Reporting supervisor: Prof. Doug Cumming

Editing supervisor:  Prof. Pamela Luecke

Technical supervisor:  Michael Todd