More students, less housing, same parking, more problems

There has been a great deal of construction on the UMD campus in the past few years.
This has and will provide several new majors and programs that will bring many more students to our school.
Since 2005, UMD has seen tremendous growth and renovation. The Sports and Health Building received a $13 million addition that was completed in October 2006. The Life Science Building received a renovation completed this July at a cost of $15.2 million. Meanwhile, the Swenson Science building is wrapping up with an overall price tag of $33 million. Also, there is the Labovitz School of Business and Economics, which is expected to be completed next February at a cost of $23 million. Renovations to both the Darland Administration building and the Solon Campus Center have also taken place. All of this along with the fact that the University of Minnesota Board of Regents has just approved a request for over $230 million, which will be forwarded to the State for next year’s bonding request. Included in that request, is money for a new Civil Engineering building for UMD.
Growth at a university is certainly a good thing, and nobody would argue against the construction, renovation or modernization of buildings at UMD.
However, there are a few issues we’d like to see the administration anticipate.
First, is student parking, or the lack of it. With the recent subtraction of parking spots due to construction and bus stops filling some of the metered parking spaces, where are all of these new students going to park? We don’t even have enough spots for the current students.
According to the director of parking, the University sells approximately 1.8 passes for every actual spot available.
Next, there is the issue of student housing on and off campus: Where are we going to house new students coming specifically to UMD because of the new majors and programs offered? Students are already living in study lounges and have previously lived in hotels due to on-campus housing shortages. Off campus, it’s not looking better. There will be a shortage of rental housing in upcoming years, due to the city ordinance passed earlier this year that limits the number of rental houses per city block.
In short, the recent and continuing growth at UMD is very exciting. However, the administration needs to commit itself to addressing our current and future housing and parking needs.