by Riley Langefeld
Students wishing to purchase parking passes for the remainder of the year are out of luck. With no parking spaces left in the lot, Prospect has abruptly stopped the sale of permits.
The school has received an overwhelming flood of applications for passes this year, according to Dean of Students Lisa Soukup. Currently, students have purchased 20% more passes than they did at this time last year.
Parking passes are bought primarily by juniors and seniors, and this has not changed from previous years. The passes are sold on a first-come first-serve basis, with no bias toward grade level or age. Applications are accepted beginning shortly before school starts in August.
Since the sales have stopped, around a half dozen students have been denied passes. However, Soukup encourages students to stop by the attendance office and check on the status of the parking permits frequently. Students are still allowed to apply for parking passes, the first applications will be chosen if any spots become available during the remainder of the year.
According to Soukup, some spots may open up in January, depending on the number of seniors who graduate after first semester. Even then, though, these seniors may not even have permits. Soukup states that the goal is to start selling permits again by spring break.
Weather also plays a role in the number of open spaces. During the winter, snow can accumulate in the parking lot. This snow is generally plowed to the southeast corner of the lot. Depending on the amount of snow, the school may need to close spaces. This happened during the 2014-2015 school year after several particularly rough snowstorms last year, and the snow lasted into the cold spring.
This year was an outlier; the school usually has permits available through most of the year. They ran out especially quickly this time. Unfortunately, the school has no way to prevent the backup from happening again in the future.
“We have a limited number of parking spaces,” Soukup said. “If demand outweighs availability, then parking permits are sold until we run out, and that’s the end.”
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Parking permit sales halted
November 2, 2015
The parking lot sits partially occupied on a Saturday morning. Parking permit sales have abruptly stopped after the school has run out of remaining spaces. (photo by Riley Langefeld)
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