Parking problems still plague students

University, city look for ways to fix an 'unsolvable problem' throughout Ann Arbor

Throughout Ann Arbor, people with cars are spending more time than ever looking for places to stash them.

"Parking is a joke," Engineering sophomore Barry Chamberlin said. "Last year I had to walk 20 minutes to get to my car."

But University officials say they have tried everything they can think of to ease the parking crunch.

Ann Arbor's Downtown Development Authority commissioned a study this year to evaluate area parking demand.

JOHN KRAFT/Daily Cars fill the Thompson Street parking structure yesterday. City officials are hoping that revamping the structures at Fourth and Washington streets will ease mounting downtown parking problems.

From the two-day survey of the streets and the Forest Avenue parking structure, Pauly said that, on average, South University was at a parking capacity of 102 percent.

"The number of people parking were more than the spaces by 2 percent," Pauly said. On average, every legal spot was filled and an additional 2 percent of the cars parked illegally.

The DDA is an independent body that works with the city on local economic matters. The DDA manages the seven city parking structures.

The University also is doing what it can to alleviate parking woes. Officials plan to build a new parking structure behind the Power Center, next to the University's existing Fletcher structure.

Assistant University Architect Paul Couture said the structure should be finished in about three years and should hold about 1,000 cars.

Pauly said the parking squeeze in Ann Arbor is divided into three particular regions: Main Street, Kerrytown, and the campus area. Of the three, she said, the campus area is the most desperate for additional parking.

"We know students have a need that's not being met," Pauly said.

Compounding the problem is the fact that three of the city's parking structures are more than 50 years old and have decayed almost to the point of being unusable.

"Two or three (of the structures) are in spectacularly bad shape," said Karl Pohrt, chair of the board of the DDA and owner of the Shaman Drum Bookshop, "The other four need minor work."

The situation is so bad, Pohrt said, that some of the structures may soon collapse from their own weight. The top two levels of the Forest Avenue structure were recently closed, Pohrt said, because the DDA is afraid that the roof will cave in.

"The capacity for concrete to hold weight diminishes over time," Pohrt said.

Concrete used to construct the structures was not water-sealed when they were built - a step that is now a standard regulation, Pohrt said.

The structures' concrete is reinforced by steel bars, but water has been seeping in, and these bars are now seriously rusted, Pohrt said.

Both the Forest Avenue structure and the structure at Fourth and Washington streets will have to be demolished and rebuilt, Pohrt said.

Pauly said the Fourth and Washington structure will be knocked down this year and could be rebuilt by next spring.

The Forest structure is scheduled to be knocked down and rebuilt at a later date, possibly by spring 2000. In the meantime, its roof will be removed so that the upper levels can be used.

Pauly said that all seven of the structures will, over the next few years, undergo various amounts of renovation, ranging from aesthetic improvements like repainting to more extensive improvements like replacing the elevators. These improvements will force the structures to close temporarily.

Pauly admits that the situation will temporarily get worse while the structures are closed for renovation.

"You can't sugar coat it. We need this parking," said Pauly. "We're asking everyone to bear with us and try to get through it."

09-15-97