The gold decal parking spots—close to buildings, reserved for one specific person, $674 a pop—may be disappearing in the near future.

"We voted to eliminate the gold decal program as we know it," said Joe Hayes, a member of the Circulation and Parking Subcommittee.

With the help of some expert consultants and after months of meetings, the subcommittee, as part of the chancellor's master plan, recommended several key changes to parking and the overall circulation of traffic on campus.

Those changes include, among others, improved signage around campus, better pedestrian access including covered and heated sidewalks, increased activity of the shuttle system, and the elimination of the individually and specifically reserved gold decal parking spots.

As explained by Hayes, the so-called gold spots would be replaced with reserved lots.  Under the proposal, which Hayes called the most controversial of the subcommittee's recommendations, students and faculty purchasing the gold decal would no longer be assigned a specific parking spot guaranteed only for them, rather they would have access to the reserved lots, but only as spots were available.

And that is where Hayes sees a problem:

"They plan on overselling the lots 110 percent and it will be first come, first served."  Hayes doesn't think that people will be willing to pay for the reserved lots, even at a proposed lower price, when they may not even be able to park there on any given day.  And that means, Hayes said, less money to run the shuttles.

As setup in the mid-90s, the gold decal system was established to subsidize the shuttle service on campus.  There are currently 263 gold decal spots, each sold at a yearly price of $674, that generate more than $177,000 every year.  This revenue makes up 80 percent of shuttle funding, with the rest coming from parking fines and meters.

"I don't know why you would want to eliminate the cash cow," Hayes said, "and then charge for the shuttles."

That possibility did come up, said Linda Cook, another member of the subcommittee. 

"People that aren't paying for parking, aren't paying for the shuttle," she said, though they still reap the benefits.

The committee members discussed the possibility of charging a per-ride fee for the shuttle service, Hayes said, something similar to the Fairbanks North Star Borough's bus system.

Cook said that the possibility of a general transportation fee for all students was also brought to the table.

But all these efforts, Cook reiterated, were for the good of the campus community.

"They're really making a concerted effort to make the campus a heck of a lot friendlier," she said.

Both Hayes and Cook were discouraged, however, by the lack of student involvement in the planning of these proposals.

"This is a big deal for students," Hayes said, "and nobody even knows what's going on."

The circulation and parking subcommittee is supposed to have two student positions: a commuter student and one that lives on campus.  Currently neither position is filled.

"That leaves students totally unrepresented," Cook said.  "It's very disappointing."

The group's recommendations now go to the chancellor's master planning committee where they will be further discussed before being approved by the chancellor himself.

Chris Bennet, of the chancellor's office, said the proposals should reach Chancellor Lind's desk within the next month. 

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