Sorting out space issues, 1 parking spot at a time

This is the third in a four-part series examining the interaction between Samford University, its students and residents of the city of Homewood. In the August issue, we’ll address how alumni are creating a lasting impact on the city.

As Samford University prepares to celebrate its 60th year in the Homewood community, it is also recognizing its largest student body to date. This fall, almost 5,500 students will attend the university, including graduate and undergraduate students. 

As The Homewood Star previously reported in the first two installments of this series, Samford expects those enrollment numbers to continuously increase, with projections of 7,500 students by the year 2030. 

The growth is part of an intentional plan, said Samford Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Phil Kimrey, and is the result of a desire to continue to advance the university.  But, being a landlocked campus with a finite footprint and plans to add residence halls and parking, there have been growing pains felt by both the university and the surrounding community of Homewood.

Former parts of this series reviewed how Homewood has responded to and kept an eye on Samford’s growth — including the city’s seven-year moratorium on the university purchasing new residential properties — and how more students have moved off campus in recent years. 

This shift was, in part, due to two changes: first, Samford’s re-evaluation of a rule that previously required students to live on campus until age 21; and second, upperclassmen have been encouraged to find off-campus housing so that more on-campus housing is available for younger students in growing class sizes.

But the increased population of students on campus means more vehicles are coming along with them, impacting not only Samford’s parking lots but also traffic around the city.

making space

Phase 2 of Samford University’s master plan, which was approved by the university’s board of trustees in February, includes adding parking spaces around campus. 

In the past year, 607 new parking spaces were added, and plans for future additions could take many forms, including the construction of a parking deck that mirrors the university’s north parking deck, according to Executive Vice President Buck Brock.

Although a new deck would provide more parking for students, it could also cause noise issues for nearby Homewood residents. 

Windsor Boulevard resident Anne Baldwin said the freshman parking deck, located at the back of campus, is frequently loud. She said she hears what sounds like races or parties at night, and added she thinks the deck should be regularly patrolled.

“It’s not something they’ve remedied,” she said. “… It sounds like they [students] have drag races in there.”

Ward 4 Council Rep. Alex Wyatt is the appointed liaison between the city and university, a role he said helps to streamline communication between the entities. Wyatt said most of the community concerns he has heard are “pinpointed issues that come up every now and again,” as opposed to a large concern about how the students are affecting the neighborhood. But, he said, these have included too much parking on the street becoming an inconvenience.

As of now, the university has a total of 4,300 parking spaces, according to Director of Public Safety and Emergency Management Wayne Pittman, including about 1,000 spots for faculty and staff. 

These 4,300 parking spaces are intended to serve the university’s more than 5,000 students — many of whom choose to drive as a matter of flexibility and convenience, Pittman said — in addition to campus guests and staff. All of those individuals, however, will come to and leave campus at different times.

Even with more planned parking spots in the works, Grace Bowes, a senior marketing major at Samford, said she sees parking as a growing issue around campus, citing the school’s quick growth as a potential cause of the issue.

“I drive to school every day,” Bowes said. “Parking is just the most ridiculous thing ever. I just think Samford’s growing really, really fast, which is a great thing, but I think they did not plan to grow as fast, or they let more students in than they expected for, so I have an uncanny amount of parking tickets.”

The parking problem is especially difficult for commuters, Bowes said, because they are limited in where they can park. Most commuter lots are located on the campus’ perimeter, whereas residential parking areas border campus buildings and are centrally located.

Parking concerns are common complaints from students, Pittman said, although he believes their concerns are more about convenience than a lack of space.

“If you ask them [students], yes [there are issues with parking],” Pittman said. “If you ask me, remember you can’t park at your front door all the time. And commuters, yes, I know you love to park next to your building or whatever, but there’s not enough spaces like that.”

The campus has multi-use parking lots, spots near the campus gate and spaces available across Lakeshore Drive at the track and field complex, Pittman said. 

“Yes, you might have to walk a little farther or you might have to wait on a shuttle for you to get closer [to your building], but if you ask students, they’ll say, ‘There’s never enough,’” he said, adding that in the five years he has worked with campus parking, “I can’t remember it ever being full [or] there being zero parking spaces.”

utilizing shuttle service

Samford provides a campus shuttle service throughout the day as well as rides from far lots to residence halls at night, Pittman said, which he believes opens up parking opportunities. 

Porter Rivers, a senior finance major and the Student Government Association president, was part of the discussion with administration about expanding the shuttle service from just one route. 

The additional routes, Porter said, make getting around easier.

“I’m a big fan of the shuttle system,” he said. “… That was one of the best experiences that we’ve had this year, through SGA, was the shuttle system … because the idea is that it helps cut down time, and it really does.”

Some students, however, see their experience with parking as an easy one with or without the shuttle service, including senior marketing and entrepreneurship double major Cameron Gonzalez. The business school has a few lots just for that building, and Gonzalez said she has not experienced any issues since moving off campus and becoming a commuter.

“Instead of walking five minutes across campus, I’m now going to drive five minutes to campus and find a parking space,” Gonzalez said. “… For business students, it’s really nice. In terms of parking on campus, that hasn’t been too bad.”

The convenience of the business school parking, she said, is one reason she has never used the campus shuttle system.

For Gonzalez, issues with transportation come through the occasional traffic on Lakeshore Drive.

“It can take anywhere from like three minutes to get to campus to like 15 minutes to get to campus,” said Gonzalez, who lives at the corner of Columbiana Road and Lakeshore Drive. “I’ve learned that 7:45 [a.m.] Lakeshore traffic is real, as is 5 [p.m.] Lakeshore traffic, so it’s one of those things. It’s like ‘adulting.’ The more you do it, the better you get at it.”

That traffic gives her pause when it comes to going home between classes and work downtown, but otherwise, Gonzalez said, it hasn’t given her an issue.

Pittman, who also travels Lakeshore on his way to work, said while things such as construction on Lakeshore and peak commuting hours — in the morning before work and toward the end of the work day — can slow traffic, it typically flows smoothly during the majority of the day.

“I drive Lakeshore coming from the west every Monday through Friday, and some days it’s a breeze, and some days it’s backed up,” he said. 

community partners

As more students come into Samford, Wyatt said, the city of Homewood recognizes there will be more cars on the road. Residents, however, have not had as many concerns about Lakeshore traffic.

“I have not heard too many complaints about the traffic on Lakeshore, coming out that way,” he said. “With added students, you have added cars, but truthfully what seems to be affecting the neighborhood more — not in a negative way — what we see more of is foot traffic.”

One resident concern was a potential back entrance to the university, but that does not seem to be something Samford is interested in, Wyatt said.

“And the community seems to agree with that,” he said. “There’s just a fire entrance back there. I think that’s been fine.”

The university maintains a good relationship with the city of Homewood, Pittman added, which helps it work through potential traffic issues or parking problems. Samford will contact the city if it sees issues with traffic light sequencing, for example, or will utilize the Homewood Police Department to coordinate traffic during large events.

“If we need anything, they’re more than willing to help,” Pittman said. “If they need something from us, we’re more than willing to help.”

The university and Homewood City Schools will accommodate each other in regard to parking for large events, Pittman said, with Homewood High School allowing Samford to use its lots during after-hours events at the neighboring athletic fields. 

“Usually they’re very gracious. … That’s kind of the way we are, too,” Pittman said. “If they have something big, we try and let them have the track parking over there, and encourage our folks to park over here. We try to be good community partners, and they do too.”

– Emily Featherston and Lexi Coon contributed to this report.