The University of California, San Diego will cap its population at 29,900 total students. Right now, the campus has an approximate enrollment of 23,000 and provides housing for a little more than 8,000.
These facts were presented Tuesday, June 12, to the University Community Planning Group’s board and resident members, who questioned whether the increase in student population, along with a lack of student housing and expensive on-campus parking, would generate increased congestion in their community.
Resident Dale Disharoon, joined by several board members, alleged that a combination of high-priced parking permits for students and the campus’ shuttle system were contributing to an increasing number of cars parked along residential streets in nearby neighborhoods.
“These students are very smart,” Disharoon said. “If they can get away with parking for free, then why not?”
Milton Phegley, UCSD’s director of community relations, justified the university’s parking system as a competitive one that generates its own revenues. Parking permits average $90 per month, depending on whether a person is a faculty or staff member, a student commuter or an on-campus resident, Phegley said.
About 4,000 UCSD students took advantage of the university’s student shuttle this past school year, while 46 percent of students used modes of transportation other than single-occupancy vehicles to get to and from classes, according to Phegley.
“We are trying to make public transportation at low or no cost to encourage more use,” Phegley said, adding that an increase in student housing would also allow more students to stay on campus the majority of the time and ease traffic and parking congestion in outlying areas.
Several projects are under way to expand campus housing, including the construction of an 800-bed building on UCSD’s east side, according to Phegley.
After that project is complete, two additional housing projects included in the university’s long-range plan will begin, with scheduled completion by 2011.
The combination of projects should bring the on-campus housing deficit down to about 2,900 students, Phegley said.
Another pending project in the community that could contribute to parking congestion is the new Super Loop, a bicircular, eight-mile route through University City’s Golden Triangle scheduled to begin construction in early 2008 and begin operating later that year, Disharoon said.
An open house for the project held by San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the regional planning agency in charge of the Super Loop, is scheduled for July 11 between 3:30 and 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive. Concerned residents who feared the meeting would not address their real issues with the project asked Madeleine Baudoin, representative for District 1 City Councilman and Council President Scott Peters, to contact SANDAG about hosting a roundtable discussion.
“Any open house I’ve ever been to, the project is already done, and now they are just presenting us with what they’ve done,” said Harry Walker, UCPG board member. “Are they really going to take what we say into consideration?”
Residents including Disharoon, as well as a few board members, continued to express concerns that the Super Loop route would add to traffic congestion and parking on residential streets.
Noise and pollution have also been key arguments against the route, and with the addition of 14 bus stops along the Super Loop route, University City will have three major bus systems running simultaneously. The existing services are UCSD’s shuttle bus for students and a traditional MTS bus route.
Disharoon, who has been following the project since its inception several years ago, said he thinks if more residents were aware that the bus route was going to be implemented, they would also agree that it was an unnecessary addition to the neighborhood.
“Of about 99 percent of the people I talk to and say ‘So, what about that Superloop?,’ 99 percent of them have said ‘What?'” Disharoon said. “I think an open house is definitely not the right forum.”
The University Community Planning Group meets the second Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m. at the UTC Westfield Shopping Centre in Forum Hall above Wells Fargo bank, 4545 La Jolla Village Drive. For more information, visit uc-planning-group.com/ucpg.