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Northern Arizona University Faculty Face Parking Shortage

Posted on: Thursday, 1 September 2005, 00:00 CDT

Aug. 30--The first day of classes turned into a parking headache for Northern Arizona University faculty.

Campus construction projects, including a 900-space parking garage next to Ardrey Auditorium, ate up some existing parking spaces and made it difficult for some faculty to park next to their buildings, as they were accustomed to doing in previous semesters.

President John Haeger and other university administrators addressed some faculty parking concerns when Haeger updated the university community on construction projects, upcoming initiatives and more at a campus forum Monday afternoon.

"Parking is inconvenient. We're asking you to make adjustments. We're asking you to walk farther," said Rich Bowen, vice president of administration and finance.

Parking spaces are lost from the parking garage at Ardrey, which just went into construction in the last two weeks. The structure is expected to be completed in October 2006.

Spaces next to information technology services were lost when the fence went up for the Applied Research and Development Building. The building is anticipated to be completed in Fall 2006.

This summer, Hanley Hall went down and the bike and pedestrian path were rerouted on north campus to make way for a lab facility. The building is expected to be completed in January 2007.

The College of Business Administration building and the College of Engineering and Technology renovation took up parking on south campus. Both projects are anticipated to be completed this winter.

Haeger will present the campus master plan at the September Arizona Board of Regents meeting, which incorporates a transportation structure and reconfigures the parking on campus.

Another parking structure would be on north campus, in conjunction with the hotel and conference center.

Haeger told the nearly full auditorium that representatives of 40 hotel chains recently attended an informational meeting about the proposed hotel and conference center.

"We have talked about a conference center in Flagstaff for years and three times on campus," Haeger said.

He said he feels confident about the project from the interest it is generating. The city is proposing it contribute $2 million toward the conference center. The city directed staff to form an intergovernmental agreement and for the mayor to sign a letter of intent at its Aug. 16 meeting.

The proposed conference center is estimated to include 37,000 square feet of flexible meeting space and an exhibit hall and could accommodate groups ranging from 200 to 1,000 participants. The estimated budget for the public-private project is $10 million.

Haeger also discussed the faculty and staff compensation plan, now in its second year. He explained the goal is to continue bringing employees within 85 percent of market. Market is decided by College and University Professional Organization for Human Resources for institutions within budgets of $275 and 500 million.

The university also wants to work to establish equity within ranks because some employees of lower rank, such as associate professor, were hired at a higher salary than that of a professor who has been here many years, he said.

Other highlights of the forum:

NAU will begin advertising through many outlets, including print, television and radio. A billboard already is up along Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix.

In the next few months NAU will have a physical presence in Phoenix and Tucson. This is part of its goal of having a multi-campus university. Other locations where NAU will be expanding its presence are Prescott and Yuma.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff

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Source: The Arizona Daily Sun

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