PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Peter Co-frin, chair of the parking committee, is working harder with the help of committee members to resolve the parking issues and concerns that many students frequently complain about at Plymouth State University. Over the years, a parking committee has been established to work towards resolving concerns such as lack of parking, tickets, fines, and the pos-sibility of a parking garage.
Cofrin commented, “We want to get students involved and hear what they have to say.” Students and facul-ty may not have noticed the changes and improvements recently made. An additional sixty-three spaces have been supplied at Residential North, where the science trailers used to be located. Another forty spaces were added at the facility center, where a new lot was added.
As for faculty, sixteen spaces were allotted behind the Hogan house as well as the lot across from St. Mat-thews church. Although this lot used to be for commuters, “it made sense in the end to give it to faculty. On weekends the church needed the spaces for themselves.”In order to make up for the com-muter’s loss, the committee decided to dedicate the first two rows in the facility center for commuters only. “This also makes it easier for com-muter art students who are trying to get to class through the snow. Now they don’t have to lug their supplies any farther than they have to.” With all the construction on the Boyd Sci-ence Center, an additional nineteen faculty spaces were provided. The Admission office received eight spaces for visitor parking, and three handicapped spaces.
A parking garage has always been a topic of classroom and social debate here on campus. This option has been researched, concluding it is not feasible for the college or town. In order to build a parking garage and pay it off over thirty years, each student who parked there would have to pay approximately thirteen hundred dollars. Along with the expenses, any houses surrounding the garage would lose value on their property.
Currently students pay some-where between fifty and a hundred dollars to park their vehicles around campus. This may seem expensive, yet not when compared to the Uni-versity of New Hampshire where students pay close to three hundred dollars for parking a mile or farther from campus.As for the future, downtown will be receiving somewhat of a face-lift. The green bridge that welcomes stu-dents to Plymouth will be shifting towards the Draper and Maynard building, and once again more park-ing will be provided. The Overflow, the second hand store, and the real estate agency will be cleared away and paved for more student parking and facilities.
If these improvements aren’t satisfactory, Cofrin encourages all students to contact him by calling him at X2772 or emailing him at peterc@mail.plymouth.edu. Students can also voice their opinions and sug-gestions to their student body repre-sentatives, Lauren Devereaux and Chad