The Auraria Board of Directors took another step toward expanding campus parking options with the approval of the program plan to build a new parking garage. The garage, which will add 800-900 parking spaces, will be built at the corner of 9th Street and Auraria Parkway, on the site of the tennis courts. The tennis courts will be moved to the east side of the Tivoli, using a piece of the playing fields.

Groundbreaking is set for November with a scheduled opening of June 2005, although AHEC facilities director Dick Feuerborn thinks the structure will be completed sooner than that. "Our goal is to try to make this a better experience for our students," Feuerborn said. "If it's too much of a hassle to park, people will go elsewhere."

AHEC officials readily acknowledge that the parking garage won't solve all of the campus parking problems, brought on by continued enrollment increases. The garage will increase parking capacity by 15 percent. And more students and staff are expected to use Light Rail in the next few years as additional routes are added. "We are hitting the max on our available facilities," said Dean Wolf, AHEC Executive Vice President of Administration.

In addition, at the suggestion of the CCHE, day-to-day activities of the entire campus parking operation may be privatized. Invitations for bid are being sent out and results are expected in the next month. The scope of work would include parking lot control, issuing of parking permits, motorist assistance, special event coordination and the Handivan and Nightrider programs. Bid specifications will require that students be employed in the operation.

"Obviously, the thought is there is some money to be saved," Wolf said, adding that past audits of the AHEC parking operation have shown that the operation is efficiently run.

Staff hopes to bring the results of the bidding of the day-to-day parking activities to the Auraria Board meeting on Oct. 15.