“W KennesawState Reacts toGrowth


Parking Keeping PaceWith Campus Changes BY JOHN VAN HORN


E HADTOMARKETA (parking) program to both students, faculty and staff. It was cost- ing $15,000 a space,


and someone had to pay for it. Parking had been virtually free.”


Beth Tindel, Director of Parking Operations at Kennesaw


State University (KSU) in Georgia, has her job cut out for her. A student population growth that outstripped supply and limit- ed public transportation left her and Faye Silverman, Executive Director of the KSU’s Auxiliary Services and Programs (ASaP), scrambling. Kennesaw State is the third-largest in the University System


of Georgia and one of its fastest-growing. Enrollment has grown considerably since transitioning from a strictly commuter cam- pus just a few years ago to a full-service residential university today.KSUexpects to be close to 23,396 enrollments this fall, up from15,654 in the fall of 2002. Parking Operations at KSU is a unit within theASaP enter-


prise.Management of all parking operations was under the con- trol of a combination of the Department of Public Safety, Facili- ties, and Plant Operations until 2007, when ASaP assumed responsibility for the management of KSU’s four parking decks and 27 surface lots. The decks alone offer 6,362 spaces.When combinedwith the surface lots,more than 10,000 parking spaces are available on the KSU campus. A major challenge now, says Silverman, is commuter stu-


dents. “How do we address carpooling and shuttle operations, and at the same time negotiate with private parking lots in the area to provide needed space? The incredible rapid growth and the change in the ‘type’ of student means we are virtually always in planningmode.”


The process has been slow but steady, she says. “In the past


four years, surface lots turned into buildings and enrollment sky- rocketed.This is a good thing: (KSU)moved frombeing a ‘trans- fer school,’where students came before going to the University ofGeorgia or other larger schools, to a destination universitywith high-qualification requirements, several advanced degree and PhD programs, and a diversity of choice. “But all this has had a tremendous impact on the campus


infrastructure,” Silverman says. Due to the university’s growth rate, additional parking


spaces are needed along with a potential shuttle solution. Given these circumstances, having the most efficient and effective sys- tems and processes in place for all elements of parking opera- tions is imperative. KSU’s Parking Operations has made significant changes,


upgrades and process improvements in the three years it has been managing all parking-related elements. BeforeASaP assumed ownership of Parking Operations, all


ticketing and parkingmanagement reported through the Depart- ment of Public Safety.Any emergency or life-safety calls took precedence over citation issuance, as well as parking lot and deckmanagement. Implementing a parking management team allowed all


resources to be dedicated to the sole priority ofmanaging parking. Citation issuance, for example, became a way to control and


eliminate repeat violators, not to supplement revenue.With the consistent ticketing program in place, the need for enforcement lessened as students, faculty and staff came to understand that citation issuance was and continued to be consistent. “Our goal is not to give as many citations as we can, but to


ensure that people park where they are supposed to,”Tindel says, “but enforcement is important.” Through to 2009, all citations issued were hand-written


paper tickets manually entered and tracked in the old ARMS system inherited from the Department of Public Safety. Fine


Continued on Page 24 22 SEPTEMBER 2010 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


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