Megan Trotter | news editor
Parking permit holders have been directed away from university garages to park in other areas of campus for almost a month, but The Department of City Planning said that some of these areas currently being used are not approved for parking.
Despite the university’s best efforts to fit as many cars as possible on campus – by utilizing garage floors for valet and creating additional surface level parking effective last Friday – cars continue to overflow out of the previously designated areas.
On Sept. 4, university spokesperson Rosemary Ravasio said in an email to The Duke that the parking office regularly evaluates all parking locations across campus to ensure maximum usage.
“Once the Forbes and Locust garages are full, valet parking is implemented on levels 6, then 9 and — if necessary — on 5. In addition, parking staff may [direct] permit holders to park in undesignated spaces if needed,” said the email, sent on behalf of Assistant Vice President of Auxiliary Services Scott Richards.
Duquesne’s campus qualifies as an Educational/Medical Institution District. Such districts are designed to help minimize disruption in surrounding neighborhoods by promoting the development of “educational and medical institutional uses, such as hospitals, colleges and universities, within the urban context,” according to the Pittsburgh City Code of Ordinances.
Therefore, rather than abiding by standard city regulations, Duquesne must instead submit an Institutional Master Plan for approval by the city planning director detailing all changes and development being made to the university.
However, Duquesne’s 2021-2031 master plan does not include all of the areas to which parking staff are directing students around campus.
“We were able to identify some areas of on-street surface parking in Duquesne’s approved Institutional Master Plan,” said Chief Zoning Officer Corey Layman said in an email to The Duke. However, he continued, some of the other areas “aren’t shown in the IMP.”
When asked for a response, Richards said in an email, “Duquesne complies with all relevant requirements for operation.”
He did not answer several follow-up questions on the university’s adherence to the city code.
Layman said that he was unaware of the city receiving any 311 or enforcement complaints about parking on Duquesne’s campus.
Last week, The Duke reported that students were upset with how their cars were being parked in the garage by Duquesne’s valet services. Because of the amount of time needed to move the valet cars, some students said they were unable to leave campus in between classes.
While Auxiliary Services did not answer The Duke’s question on how the university is planning to combat this issue, Ravasio said, “Parking attendants move vehicles to spaces as they become available, which may sometimes result in brief wait times as the attendants return back to the booths.”
Some students have described wait times approaching 30 minutes.
Despite students’ annoyance with valet wait times, Duquesne’s master plan does include the “use of valet parking in the on-campus garages at peak demand periods,” as stated on page 91.
Unlike the valet service – and despite a parking attendant being present – students hold onto their keys when they park their cars in the temporary areas. There is also no signage posted or spots painted that would designate these areas as parking.
“When necessary and at the recommendation of parking staff, the university may temporarily use other areas on campus to accommodate parking,” Richards said to The Duke on Sept. 11.
However, according to Pittsburgh City Code of Ordinances, an Institutional Master Plan must be submitted and approved prior to any development in an EMI district.
“Prior to the approval of an Institutional Master Plan, the planning director shall be authorized to approve minor development projects within an EMI District, provided that the development: (1) Shall not result in the creation of or need for additional parking,” the code said.
“There’s a process for enforcement and for amending plans, and if the university has made substantive changes to expand parking outside of what has been attributed and accounted for in the adopted IMP, then there would be a process for that change,” Layman said in two separate emails. “If these are formal changes, then the university should seek to file an application for an amendment to the master plan.”
Duquesne Auxiliary Services would not say whether they would apply for these additional parking areas moving forward.