Madison College Needs More Parking Spaces

Parking Woes Follow MATC Enrollment Spike
Sagging Economy Sparks Soaring Enrollment

Updated: 7:51 am CST February 2, 2010
Channel 3000.com (WISC-TV)

MADISON, Wis. -- For those struggling with parking problems, consider the challenges being faced at the former Madison Area Technical College -- now called Madison College -- on the city's north side.

A rapid rise in enrollment due to the changing economy has MATC officials scrambling to find some extra parking, but so far, city officials aren't cooperating.

Right now, those going to MATC's Truax Campus need plenty of time to park because space is at a premium and a plan to build more parking ran into a roadblock recently when the city Plan Commission rejected it and told the school it didn't do its homework, WISC-TV reported.

Behind the college sits a vast sea of asphalt and every day, the campus' two full-time officers police parking-related problems. Joe Steffan is one of them and he said they are overloaded.

"There are so many resources being wasted on trying to ticket and trying to manage a lot that is bursting at the seams," Steffan said.

Lately, especially since the sagging economy has lead to soaring enrollments, it's all about cars for MATC public safety officers like Steffan. Normal foot patrol for critical things like medical calls has turned into car patrol as they try to police MATC's notoriously packed parking lots. Officers said there have even been accidents and fights as people race to get a spot.

"People get mean in the parking lots," said MATC student Sheena Ethun. "A couple of times, I've been about to pull into a spot and then someone will come whipping around and take it."

Ethun said she has to drive in with her two children from Deerfield every day an extra half-hour early just to try to get a parking spot.

There's plenty of evidence the Truax campus has a parking crisis. Cars everywhere are illegally parked -- even those with legal permits.

Embed CodeSave & ShareMore Videos

The college had a plan to help. As part of a larger master plan, it wanted to put in a parking lot with another 360 spaces across Wright Street next to some athletic fields, but the city Plan Commission recently rejected a permit for that lot, unanimously telling the college to get more information and come back later.

Alder Michael Schumacher of the Plan Commission said the commission's decision was based on what was before them.

"When we sat on the Plan Commission, we didn't get the answers we wanted and it was remarkable seeing -- no matter what the Plan Commissioner's background -- this was a unanimous vote," he said.

Schumacher said MATC officials simply didn't do their homework about things like how the surface parking lot fits into the college's long-term transportation demands and how it might affect storm water runoff, which is already a problem.

MATC officials said they believe they complied with the city process, but hope to get the city the answers it needs.

Vice President of MATC Roger Price said, "We thought we followed the process and we're moving through the steps to get this project so that we can actually do the implementation this summer."

Price said MATC hopes to finish up a transportation demand study and resubmit its parking lot plan to the city next month.

Last fall, enrollment at MATC soared from its usual 3 percent to 12 percent, and so did its parking tickets. MATC officials handed out nearly 3,000.