Staff Report
The Board of Regents decided Thursday it will not divert $10 million in funding from two proposed parking structures.
On Nov. 11, the regents approved reallocating the structures' funding because of budget shortfalls.
But at their meeting Thursday, the regents moved to continue the parking projects because they will pay for themselves, said Steve Beffort, vice president for Institutional Support.
"This is bond money - that is, UNM bonds - and we have to start paying that money back in December of 2010, so the parking structure is a project that can service that debt," he said. "It will pay itself back by both meter fees and permit fees."
Students can use the structure by paying meter fees, but the lot permits are priced based on faculty income, Beffort said.
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"They are basically designed as faculty and staff slots, but that doesn't mean that the students couldn't (park there)," he said.
Regent Jack Fortner said parking is a priority for the board, as it has been an issue at UNM for a long time.
"As a regent, that's probably what I get most calls from, especially people from Farmington who have children going here who say, 'I can't get a parking permit for anywhere near where we would like to be,'" Fortner said.
Fortner said two possible sites for the structures are near Lomas and University and next to Scholes Hall.
"I think either one of them would be good," he said. "It's one of the things I don't think anybody can argue with. There is a great need for parking for students, for faculty, for staff, and the sooner we can nail down a selection and move forward, the better."
Beffort said the initiative to build additional structures came from a need for more faculty parking.
He said the University has been eliminating surface parking lots in order to construct buildings. For example, the Castetter Hall expansion wiped out parking spaces near Logan Hall.
"We have over 1,300 people on a waiting list to park closer into the campus, so there is a huge demand. Plus we continue to take parking lots and build buildings on them," Beffort said.
Beffort said the proposed structures are still in the planning stages.
"We are looking at two structures with 1,100 parking spots," he said. "We don't have sites approved yet. More than a year ago, we had a traffic consultant come in and recommend sites."
Beffort said that as soon as his office gets approval on those sites, it will ask for regent approval to begin construction.
