As many SF State student commuters already know, the Lot 20 parking structure at the west end of the campus will undergo massive renovations over the next year.
Beginning Dec. 23, and continuing through November 1996, work crews will block off one floor in the garage at a time, repairing earthquake damage and seismically upgrading the structure to meet current safety guidelines imposed by the CSU system.
"There will be a considerable impact on the parking lot itself. It will be hard to get in and out of the parking garage. Students should allow themselves an extra 10 or 15 minutes to park," said Stephen Jack, University Capital Planning Director. The garage will be closed at times during the winter recess for construction work on the second floor, and will also be closed next summer.
Many students were not aware of the impending construction and felt they had been inadequately warned of it. Last week the campus parking and transportation division attached fliers to all of the parked cars in lot 20, advising of the construction and alternatives available to students.
"I know it's coming. We'll just have to see how bad it is," said John Camilleri, a junior broadcasting major. "From what they're going to shut down, I'm forced to park in the street."
Between 400 and 500 spaces will be unavailable at any one time in the five-story, 2,130-space parking structure during the next year. The flier advises that 425 spaces will be available northwest of the campus along Winston Avenue in lot 25. Also, an additional 100-space parking lot is being opened next to Lowell High School.
"Just the garage itself will be affected. There will be some spaces blocked off by the construction for staging, but we don't know how many yet," said Lily Gee, parking coordinator for the university. "With the increase in spaces at lot 25 that should offset the loss at lot 20."
Currently lot 25 is only open from dawn to dusk because it does not have lighting. By the opening of the spring term, Jan. 30, both lot 25 and it's extension next to Lowell High School, will have lighting. This will enable the lots to be open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., according to Gee. A bus shuttle route has been established that will make stops every 10 minutes between lot 25 and the campus until 11 p.m. Lot 20 will continue to operate 24 hours a day.
The renovation is the first phase in a $63 million campus-wide construction project SF State will undergo over the next two years (see construction story this page). C. Overaa Construction will oversee the $4.8 million project.
"This is the last amount of money coming out of the (CSU) chancellor's office. Effective last August all of the campuses are on their own," said Jack.
Jack explained that the funds used to renovate the garage are from a general pool of system-wide campus funds and any further parking construction or renovation will have to come from SF State parking fees.
"Once done there will be no change in the number of stalls. The building will not be any larger or smaller than it is now, but the people need to have a lot of patience," said Jack.
Vehicle access to lot 20 and North State Street will also be affected when renovation work is started on the Diagnostic Center beginning in February, according to Gee.
"Parking around here is already very chaotic and (the school) shutting down a floor in the middle of the semester is not a wise move. People struggle as it is for parking spaces," said Claudia Caham, a graduate student in political science. She does believe that the shuttle service will ease the problem of having to trek from lot 25 to the campus, though.
"It still means people have to make an extra effort to get here much earlier than they would normally," said Caham.
"There will be a tremendous problem. Parking is difficult enough," said Betty Ardoin, a liberal studies senior." If you're not here by a certain time you can lose out in parking in the lot."
Ardoin commutes from Menlo Park, leaving home at 6:45 a.m. She usually gets to school at 7:15 or 7:30 a.m. and doesn't plan on changing her schedule.
"I won't take any chances at coming at 9 o'clock," said Ardoin.
[ Golden Gater Online December 14, 1995 ]
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