The police department plans to improve parking on campus with new parking permits and guidelines.
There are now four types of permits comprised of: Commuter, Cokesbury, Methodist Hall, and Star Access.
The Star Access permit was created to provide full access parking to residential students so they can park at their residency and in general parking areas on campus without purchasing two permits, said Bradd Brown, chief of police.
“Our goal is to provide value for what they’re purchasing,” Brown said.
OCUPD decided to make some changes to the parking guidelines after a large number of students, faculty and staff reported they were dissatisfied in the parking survey in April, Brown said.
One of the primary complaints in the survey was from campus residents who were either unable to park in general parking areas on campus because their permit only allowed them access to park at Cokesbury Court Apartments or at Oklahoma United Methodist Hall, or were spending $300 for two parking permits so they could park in more locations.
The new permits also are hanging permits instead of static cling because users reported problems with the static cling permits in the parking survey, a July 29 email sent out to the campus read.
The Commuter, Cokesbury and Methodist Hall parking permits costs $150 and the Star Access permits costs $200.
“I think it’s a really good improvement because the other permits kind of caused some complications last year,” said Grace Lewis, instrumental performance junior.
Parking permits are available for purchase at Student Accounts during regular business hours. The online application form should be filled out before picking up a permit at okcu.edu/studentaccounts/parkingpermit.
Permits are mandatory for every student’s vehicle and must be purchased by the first day of classes, Brown said.
Permits expire Aug. 31 of each year so returning students can continue to use last year’s permit until then.
OCUPD will be actively enforcing parking permits starting Sept. 1, but Brown said it is possible to be ticketed before then for not having a visible pass.
Tickets for not displaying a permit are $50 and tickets for not having a permit are $100.
One of the new guidelines is that permit holders are able to have their first offense for failing to display a parking permit forgiven. Those forms are available at the police department’s new location at 1635 NW 23rd St., at the corner of 23rd and Blackwelder. To read more about their new location, click here.
For more information about the new permits or guidelines, contact the police department at 208-5001 or email ocupd@okcu.edu.
“It’s all a work in progress and there may be some slight changes,” Brown said. “We want to have the right amount of all parking and to have a good balance, so we will continue to try to make it better.”
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