By Steve Knight/editor-in-chief

For every student parking place at TCC, at least three other students fight for that same spot. Increasing student enrollment each year means more may fight for that spot in the future.

Now administrators are considering constructing parking garages on campuses to alleviate the shortage of parking places.

Currently, 11,333 parking places exist districtwide, about one for every 3.91 students.

The ratio is highest on NW Campus, which has one place for every 5.89 students. South Campus has the lowest ratio of one spot for every 3.85 students.

David Wells, vice chancellor of operations and planning services, told the TCC board of trustees Sept. 17 that any future structured parking construction would fall under the capital improvement plan.

“We would like to build parking garages rather than using more land,” he said. “We would use the land we already have [for parking].”

According to Chicago-based builder Jones Lang LaSalle, the district could consider three options.

At a cost of about $19.5 million for 1,500 parking places, a high-level facility would include a custom veneer facade, detailed elevations with a glass or brick enclosure.

A medium-level facility would contain a mixture of open and enclosed exteriors with a mixture of pre-cast veneer or brick and glass with an approximate cost of $16.5 million.

A third option would be a low-level, open-exterior facility at a cost of around $13.5 million, approximately $8,000-10,000 per parking spot.

As a comparison, Wells said the county’s parking facility in downtown Fort Worth, completed in 2005, cost $9,813 for each of 743 parking places.

NE student Tyler Sparkman said expanding current surface parking would be a better idea because of possible safety issues.

“People are not careful on ramps. It’s not fun, and it’s dangerous,” he said.

“There are lots more places to hide in a parking garage — between cars and stairwells among other things.”

Expanding current surface parking, although a less expensive option, would take up land that otherwise could be used for future classroom space, Wells said.

According to TCC officials, an asphalt surface would cost between $926 and $973 per parking space, and a concrete surface would cost between $1,040 and $1,092 per spot.

NE student Matt Tillery said he favors constructing campus parking garages to alleviate future parking problems.

“Building up makes sense,” he said. “They may want to add buildings instead of pavement.”