GLENDALE : Parking at College Expected to Be Scarce

As Glendale Community College starts its fall semester today, student commuters are expected to have a harder time finding parking this year, compared with past years, officials said.

A total of 300 on-campus spaces is usually available for those who purchase $40 parking permits. But construction work on a new 750-space parking structure and a fire access road have taken up 200 of those spaces, leaving only 100 left this fall, said Mike Southerland, director of college safety.

Off-campus parking may be little better. A total of 1,100 spaces are available on city-owned lots across the street from campus.

Students with parking permits can park for free. Those who do not will have to pay a meter fee of 50 cents an hour, or face a parking citation from the city, officials say.

In previous years, students were allowed to park without a permit and for free at half of the 1,100 city-owned spaces, Southerland said. Although residential street parking will still be available, that also will be restricted by Nov. 25 to residents with special permits.

As of Monday, only 2,000 student permits have been sold, officials said. The college has 3,339 full-time students and 9,040 part-time students enrolled so far this semester.

“A lot of folks just aren’t aware of the new system” in parking, Southerland said. “We will be on campus to help people to direct them to parking spaces. We’re going to try and do as easy a transition as we can.”

A one-week grace period will be given to students parking on campus without a valid permit, he said. They will be allowed only one written warning before a citation is issued for not having a valid permit, Southerland said.