Austin coalition wants regulated parking near UT campus

Seeks end to ‘free-for-all’

Steve Hawley, Mar 11, 10.

A group of Austin residents, business owners, and churches near West Campus are hoping to end a parking “free-for-all” by installing meters or requiring parking permits, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Currently, there are no meters or permits, and cars can be left in one spot for months or even years in extreme cases. Currently, there are 700 to 800 free parking spaces in West Campus, and the coalition hopes to regulate about half of those spaces. Seventy percent of the profit would go toward maintaining the parking meters, and the rest would go toward sidewalk, lighting, and streetscape improvements.

The article notes, “The city already has a smaller revenue-sharing program in place along San Antonio Street in West Campus and hopes to extend the option of installing meters to other neighborhoods.”

It continues:

The city passed a land-use plan in 2004 that lets developers build taller, denser buildings in West Campus than city rules normally allow if they provide public benefits in return, such as wide sidewalks and ground-level retail space. Developers have built 24 residential projects in the past six years, adding about 2,400 housing units.

The plan’s aims were to create vibrant, walkable streets and get more students to live close enough to UT to leave their cars at home.

Adding meters would encourage the eco-friendly options of walking, biking and riding buses and ensure that cars aren’t left in the same spaces for months, said McHone, a real estate broker and consultant who represents several property owners in the area.

If implemented, the program would free up space for local residents and business patrons instead of campus commuters. The proposal is in its early stages and would require City Council approval.

Some nearby residents are concerned that parking meters would just encourage students to park on their residential streets instead. Many local neighborhoods already require parking permits, but residents say the city does not always enforce the rules.