This map shows the division of parking between Students and Faculty. The old senior lot will be expanded into a lot for all upperclassman students while the junior lot will become a staff and faculty lot. Photo courtesy of Tom Hitchcock.

By Ty Corley

Beginning on Monday, October 16, the senior lot will become host to all seniors and juniors while the junior lot will become a faculty and staff lot. The announcement came from Director of Security Tom Hitchcock, who reorganized Menlo’s parking areas to accommodate for some changes that have resulted due to the completion of construction on campus.

Due to the construction of the new tech building, cafeteria and student center building in the past year, tech portables had been placed in the senior lot restricting the number of spaces available to the students and staff who originally shared the lot. The solution was to turn the loop into a temporary parking lot for faculty and staff.

With the grand opening of the tech building and the removal of the portables from the Senior lot, the loop is being transformed into a turf surface with no available parking. However, instead of going back to the old system of a junior lot and a senior/staff lot, Hitchcock has taken this opportunity to change the assignments for each lot. “It’s something that I have wanted to do for years now,” Hitchcock said. “This feels like a good opportunity.”

Part of the reasoning for changing up the system is that faculty members have often complained about sharing a lot with students and having their cars being dinged in accidents. There was also concern about giving the annex lot behind daycare to the juniors. “It doesn’t make sense for the newest drivers to have to park in the school’s smallest spots,” Hitchcock said. He noted that the faculty members, who are generally more experienced drivers, will be more adept at parking in the smaller spots.

The removal of the tech portables has opened up a lot of spaces for the new student lot. There are now 134 total spots that will be available on a first come first serve basis. According to Hitchcock, this is an increase in the total number of student spots. The restricted parking areas have also been expanded. This includes the carpool section, where students can only park if they receive a carpool pass from student life, or the electric car spaces, which are designed to promote environmental friendly electric cars.

Hitchcock hopes that students and faculty alike can cooperate with the changes. “I know there will be confusion at first, but I think this new system will work out in everyone’s favor.”

Note: The date of the imposition of the changes has been pushed back from 10/12 to 10/16 due to a delay in the removal of the trailers.