Video by Emma Iannacone

Students and faculty can no longer park at the Colorado State University Foothills Campus for free.

The formerly free lots will be transitioning to permit parking in Aug. 2019, and those parking at the Foothills campus will have to pay to park.

Facilities Management and CSU’s Parking and Transportation Services are working together to update the Foothills Campus parking regulations for paid parking. The departments conducted five information sessions with stakeholders to find out how to best accommodate the needs of the Campus.

“We’re out there to gather information from the folks who work out there about what their business is, what their business needs are, what some of their personal needs are as it relates to parking out there or getting to and from Campus,” said Dave Bradford, the director of Parking and Transportation services.

Some of the stakeholders at the sessions included faculty, staff and graduate students, Bradford said. Bradford recognizes the difficulty in asking people to pay for a service that was originally free, but he says the need for upkeep outweighs the convenience.

Parking and Transportation Services is an enterprise division of CSU, meaning it receives funding only through the revenue it generates through fees. Fred Haberecht, campus planner of Facilities Management, said it is mandated that all users pay into the services, which is not the case at the Foothills Campus. These payments help fund to upkeep needed for the Foothills Campus.

“While there is no permit parking, there also is no mechanism to maintain parking lots, keep them well lit and provide the same accommodation you’d have on main Campus,” Haberecht said. 

Haberecht said that by requiring paid permits for the Foothills Campus, the university will be able to better maintain the parking lots to the same standard as the other CSU campuses.

The University plans to begin improvements to the Foothills parking facilities during the summer of 2019 before the permit program is implemented. There are also talks of enhancing public transportation to provide more options to students, faculty and staff who choose not to purchase permits. 

“There’s a discussion of whether transit could be enhanced to a greater degree than it is today at Foothills Campus as part of this package,” Haberecht said.  

Currently, there’s one TransFort bus that travels between the CSU Transit Center and the CSU Engineering Research Center on the Foothills Campus, though it only runs once an hour.

Bradford said Parking and Transportation Services is looking outside the box for the best transit system for the Foothills Campus.

“Is a Transfort-type service the best for that location, or do we need to look at other transportation options that might lend more flexibility and more increased service?” Bradford said. 

However, there isn’t yet a finalized plan for what fees and permits will be offered, but the program will be tailored to the needs of the Foothills Campus, Haberecht said.

“I’m confident that whatever is employed at the Foothills Campus will have options just like there are on main campus,” Haberecht said. “That’s not to say they’re going to be the same options, they may be tailored to the unique needs of the Foothills Campus.”

The permit plan will be developed based on the five listening sessions and will be turned over for further listening sessions with stakeholders in the winter. 

Emma Iannacone can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @EmmaIannacone.