The United Methodist Hall parking garage will not be open today, April 8, in the case of severe weather, according to university housing.
Students who received parking tickets in the United Methodist Hall parking garage during the storms on March 25 will not pay for those tickets.
Students, faculty and staff were informed via email from Ade Okediji, director of housing, around 10:40 a.m. March 25 that the parking garage was available to any of the campus community to park in, starting at noon, to protect their vehicles from storm damage.
The email mentioned three specific rules: That students not parallel park, not park behind other cars and not park in the “drive thru” areas.
Students who were parked incorrectly were ticketed after police received several complaints from parents of students who were blocked in.
“We responded to complaints over in the parking garage,” said Bradd Brown, chief of police. “The hail storm had moved into the city, and I guess there were people who parked inside there that didn’t exactly park in a parking place, they parked blocking lanes of traffic.
“People were calling and we were getting calls from parents complaining that they couldn’t get out, so we ticketed people at that time who were illegally parked.”
OCUPD isn’t sure of the exact number of students who were ticketed, Brown said.
Those tickets were dismissed.
“I advised the police department to dismiss those due to confusion on timing when the storm was all clear,” Brown said.
Police officers gave students permission to park blocking in vehicles due to the extremity of the storm, said Katie Wonderly, vocal music education senior.
Wonderly didn’t receive a ticket, but got a Facebook message from a student who looked through her window and saw her name on a slip of paper in her vehicle.
The message informed her that she was blocking a dance teacher in her spot and needed to move her vehicle or she would get a ticket.
“I hadn’t thought twice about parking there because I didn’t expect anyone to leave while the storm was going on,” Wonderly said. “I gladly moved my vehicle out of the way, and I was able to park in her actual spot once she left.”
Wonderly said she appreciates housing and OCUPD allowing everyone to park in the garage during severe weather, but it can become dangerous once cars are inside.
“The space is limited and there’s no way to tell if there are any available spots until you have fully entered the garage,” Wonderly said. “Once enough cars have entered, and all the official parking spots are filled, it is nearly impossible to get out of the garage.”
Wonderly said, if the garage is open to everyone during severe weather, there should be police officers monitoring the number of people entering the parking garage and where people park. A warning should be posted or sent out to campus when it is full to avoid these types of chaotic situations during already hectic times, Wonderly said.
It is up to housing to decide whether the parking garage will be open to all of campus in the case of severe weather.
Chief Brown said, after the chaos of the last storm’s parking, he is unsure if it will be an option during the next storm.
The housing staff was unavailable for comment.
In the case of severe weather, check MediaOCU, campus emails and Blue Alerts for more updates and information on where to park.
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