Parking woes eased

by Brian Long

When they returned from winter break this year, Rider students were treated to a holiday gift of new parking rules for both resident students and commuters. Perhaps the biggest change was the addition of a new parking lot located behind Poyda Hall.

The opening of this new lot meant the closing of the temporary gravel parking lot outside of Daly’s on Jan. 31.

The lot was built “to remedy what we viewed as a shortage of parking,” said Mike Reca, associate vice president of Auxiliary Services. “A gravel lot was recommended by Lawrenceville Township and they granted us a temporary permit, which expired on Jan. 30 of this year.”

The new Poyda lot, which is adjacent to the soccer field, has a total of 267 spaces and is made of a coarse retention-based material that absorbs water. A new set of street lamps and a sidewalk have also been built and the roads leading to the lot will be repaved and made more accessible during spring break in March.

There have also been some adjustments to the assignments for the existing parking lots.

According to an e-mail sent by the dean of students’ office, freshmen resident students “will continue to park in the O and Z lots” while upperclassmen resident students will park in R lot, which has been expanded to include “the portion of the Z lot closest to the kiosk at the south gate.”

Commuters will continue to park in the C lot near the Bart Luedeke Center, but they will also be permitted to park in the new lot adjacent to the soccer field. The e-mail also stated that this new parking area is “closer to the Fine Arts building than most spaces in the BLC lot and is easily accessible to Sweigart Hall and the Science and Technology Center,” a perk for commuting students.

With the growing population of Rider students who live both on and off campus, the lack of parking spaces is becoming a problem, especially for commuter students.

“There is never enough parking,” said junior Rance Robeson, a commuter. “It’s especially difficult [to find a spot] in the afternoons when most of the students who have already settled into their parking spots.”

The problem is being addressed by Dean of students Campbell who, along with a committee of several others, created these new parking plans. In addition to a parking lot that will be built for students living in the new West Village Commons which will be opening next year, other measures will be taken.

“We are looking to reorganize the parking plan with a traffic study over the summer,” Campbell said. “The main goal is to maximize the space that we have for both students and faculty.”