Members of the City and Regional Planning 852 class have begun to compile resident survey results as the first step toward making recommendations to the city on how to improve parking in the university district.

The third and fourth weeks of class called for students to conduct door-to-door interviews in an effort to give residents a chance to voice their opinions on parking issues within the district. More than 250 residents were asked by CRP class members to estimate their parking needs, identify recurring problems in their neighborhood and provide possible solutions.

More than 80 percent of the sample responded to owning a vehicle, but 20 percent of off-street private parking spaces available to surveyed residents were not used, said Andrea Phillips, spokeswoman for the project.

“Respondents chose instead to park on the street in front of their apartment or home for convenience or safety reasons,” she said.

Street parking is in high demand -especially during the day when commuters flood the university district streets by the thousands. Problems are caused when private lots are not utilized by all residents that have the option.

“Those who drive into the university area regularly to work, attend school or to visit local businesses or friends struggle to find available, non-permit regulated parking that is affordable and accessible to their destination,” Phillips said, referring to the results compiled from similar commuter surveys.

Scattered permit parking areas throughout the university district have caused neighborhood parking to become fragmented and confusing, raising questions for residents as to where parking is legal for themselves and for guests.

Also, with no set limit to the number of passes issued on a permit parking street, overcrowding of cars causes a spill-over effect onto non-permit streets or even into other permit sections.

“Half of all respondents answered that a lack of parking during the daytime, evening and overnight is a weekly problem,” Phillips said.

Groups of students were assigned to specific neighborhoods to monitor day and night parking, as well as attend community meetings to gather input and inform local residents about the study. Nick Hoffman, a CRP student whose group is focusing on the neighborhoods directly south of the Ohio State University Medical Center, found that besides an overabundance of issued parking permits, early design of townhouses in the area have caused considerable problems.

“The heart of the parking problem can be found in that the neighborhoods surrounding the university were built and designed in a time without the need of an automobile,” Hoffman said. “Today, one duplex or townhouse may hold anywhere from four to eight students, each with their own automobile, which means at least eight cars being parked on the street are just for one house.”

Possible solutions raised by Hoffman and his group include increasing the price of the parking permit (which is now set at $25) and limiting the number of visitor passes issued by the city to two per residence instead of one visitor pass per vehicle owner.

The study, coordinated by Jennifer Evans-Cowley, assistant professor in the city and regional planning program at OSU, will conclude on March 17 when the final draft of the report will be presented to the University Area Commission.