SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
In
.
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
CA MPUS SECURITY
Telephone: 604-2914174
Fax: 604-291-5983
8888 UNIVERSITY DRIVE
BURNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA
CANADA V5A 1S6
MEMORANDUM
To:
Bruce L. Anderson
From:
Nick Coutu
Executive Director
Director
Human Resources and Safety
Campus Security
Re:
Response to Senate re: Parking
Date:
March 3, 2006
The following is in response to Professor Gordon's February 28
th
e-mail regarding parking demand
and fees at SFU Burnaby campus. Although a specific date was not specified, Professor Gordon's e-
mail references a previous Senate meeting which we understand to be April
4th
2005. Minutes of this
meeting are used as a point of reference in this response.
We encourage anyone interested in the specific details of the parking issues facing the University to
go to Campus Security's Parking web page (www.sfu.caisecuritv/Parking) and print the new Parking
•
Management Plan which carefully analyzes the current and future parking demands, and the
proposed options and solutions to address replacing surface parking at Burnaby campus. Surface
parking space is being lost due to construction of academic buildings and the UniverCity
community. It should be noted that UniverCity will begin developing, in 2006-7, the area known as
the "south slopes" or Lot B east (also called Lot G) and the temporary lot near the annex. This loss
of surface parking beginning in 2006 will be addressed by the development and construction of a
Parkade by UniverCity. In addition, future academic development (post 2010) for buildings to be
constructed in Lot B west and Lot C will include underground or structured parking.
I. Parking Demand
Professor Gordon 's Question:
How have we gone from a situation of not requiring new parking to one of "looming shortages"
that necessitate increased parking fees on those currently using the existing parking fees in the
matter ofa few short months?
The minutes of the April
41t,
2005 Senate meeting (Item 4, para4 through 8) report both current
and planned construction activities and suggest that a negative impact to the demand for parking
will be minimal as a result of:
a)
U-Pass
b) Redirecting C Lot permit holders to B Lot
In fact, since the implementation of U-Pass in September 2003, transit ridership has increased
48%. And while the program has been hugely successful, the demand for student parking has
•
affected the student waiting list only (see Figure 1) at this time and not the ability to fill the
parking lots. The U-Pass program is only part of the solution to meet the commuting
requirements of the community.
Pagel of)
Figure /
Student Parking Wait List Summary
Year
Parking
Decrease
Waiting
Since 2002
List
2002
3,741
2003
3,552
5%
2004
2,890
22%
2005
2,683
28%
Initial projections regarding parking demand were based on the findings of a joint TransLink and
SFU study of SFU Burnaby Campus transportation requirements to the year 2021. Planned SFU
and SFU Community Trust (UniverCity) expansion activity on surface parking lots was
considered in the development of a Campus Transit Plan that was prepared in February 2005.
Findings indicated that while SFU will experience significant population growth over the next
several years, minimal impact to the level of service as compared to 2003/04 can be realized if the
current number of physical parking spaces are maintained or replaced with the loss of surface
parking and if the following recommendations as outlined in section 6.0 of the Campus Transit
Plan are introduced.
These include:
An aggressive expansion of transit services, facilities and network to accommodate
increased student enrollment and communities
The target numbers for students in residence (4,000 inSFU residences and 1,000 in
market housing).
The U-Pass program is extended to include faculty and staff
Long term parking fees are increased by at least 50% in real terms
• Significant improvements in the regional transit network by 2021, including both the
RAV line and rapid transit line in the northeast sector.
The Campus Transit Plan further recommends an in depth study to determine current and long
term parking supply requirements and funding considerations.
To this end Campus Security and Campus Planning and Development commissioned a study in
2005 for the purpose of developing an interim and long term plan to address parking demand over
the next 25 years. Based on the premise that the University maintains the same number of
physical parking spaces but increase the parking versus commuter ratio from 1:3 (1 space for
every 3 commuters) to 1:4 (1 space for every 4 commuters), the Parking Management Strategy
Committee focused specifically on parking management issues as they relate to interim parking
facilities during construction and parking facility options (e.g., Stand alone structures, parking
under new academic buildings) to maintain the current number of spaces.
The Parking Management Plan issued on February
7th,
2006 presents a strategy in this regard.
0
V
.
Page 2 of
2. Parkin g Fee Increases
Professor Gordon 's Question:
Also, those
of us
who have been pay parking fees for many years faced steep increases in parking
fees many years ago. These increased fees were supposed to be put towards new parking spaces in
the form
of
new parkades. Could the Chair or designate please address where these increased fees
have been accumulated (i.e., what fund) , how much has been collected to date and how these funds
have been used over the past few years?
In the early 1990's, an increase in parking fees was approved to assist in funding the Convocation
Mall and West Mall parking structures, increased operating costs and a small reserve to assist future
maintenance, parking resurfacing expenses and improved lighting.
Increases of 2%,
5%
and 20% were also implemented in 2001, 2003 and 2005 respectively to assist
in funding increased operations and maintenance costs such as improvements to parking lots B and
C which were in excess of $13M, as well as projected future Parkade development as recommended
in previous Campus Planning and Development studies. The current cost of parking for Lot C is
$33/month that includes PSI and GST or approximately $1/day. The cost of parking in reserved
parking structures is $82/month or $2.73/day.
As parking is an ancillary operation, parking lot maintenance, enforcement and related security is
funded through parking revenues, as is expansion and construction of new parking facilities. Current
reserves of approximately $2.8M are required for current and future maintenance, repair and capital
expenditures needed for current parking structures and spaces.
The cost to provide new facilities is based on a number of factors with geotechnical issues particular
•
to this campus and rising construction material and labour rates affecting the costs.
Construction of one underground parking space, in today's dollars, is estimated at $25,000 -
$30,000. Based on this, we anticipate the cost of one underground structure facilitating
approximately 1,000 parking stalls to cost approximately $30M (today's dollars).
At the time of planning ASSC and HS, we understood that the next SFU Community Trust
expansion would be the south neighbourhood and the decision had not been made to develop the
Slopes neighbourhood. In addition, with the cost of building underground parking in excess of $30k
per stall, there were simply no funds or the perceived excess demand for parking at that time.
We have however since made a decision that under building parking must be considered each time
an academic building is contemplated.
Page 3 of
