Lafayette College announced at Easton’s most recent planning commission meeting that it intends to decrease off-campus parking to accommodate other changes linked to its expansion.
The college intends to cut its student residential parking permits by almost a quarter, from 250 to 190. Additionally, parking at Clinton Terrace will become the city’s property and metered parking will be installed.
Students will be assigned parking spots only on the Sullivan parking deck or the soon-to-be-built Bushkill campus lot. Shuttles will then be extended to service the Bushkill campus.
All students, staff and other employees who have to commute to campus will have a time limit of three hours for parking on a street within the College Hill Neighborhood. The college is also planning on funding an additional parking enforcement officer.
“We believe that when we looked at our counts…that we can reduce another 60-70 cars from the neighborhood through this policy change,” Vice President of Finance Roger Demareski said. “But it requires enforcement.”
Under the proposed policy linked to the expansion, if a student were to receive a ticket from Lafayette College Public Safety or the Easton Police Department, the student would go through the college’s judicial process either way and have to meet with the dean of students.
Many found these answers to parking concerns unsatisfying. Member of the Easton Planning Commission Robert Sun said that he feels that the college has a history of being unclear with their parking analyses and would like to see more of an effort from the college on limiting student parking.
“The reality it there’s a problem you’re not addressing,” Sun said to college representatives at the meeting. “What I’m suggesting to you is that you further limit the number of students you let bring cars on campus. It’s a privilege.”
Pending approval from the Easton City Council on the Lafayette’s proposed temporary modular housing, the college will also be losing 52 parking spots in the March Field parking lot next fall.