President Jolene Koester approved May 4 a three-year increase in parking fees starting in the 2007- 2008 fiscal year.

The cost of a parking permit will increase $18 per semester each school year to pay for construction of a parking structure on the G3 parking lot.

Fees for a car parking permit will increase from the present $126 a semester to $144 in the 2007 year; $162 the next year (2008-09); and $180 the final year (2009-10) of the increase.

The total estimated cost of the project, including a new road from Nordhoff Street to the new parking structure would be $33,724,125, according to University Budget Planning and management documents. Most of the costs of the structure will be financed by a $24,739,741 bond issue.

The Associated Students Student Fee Advisory Board recommended to Koester that she increase parking permit fees April 27.

The board heard a presentation from Colin Donahue, CSUN facilities planning director, illustrating how a parking structure on the east side of campus along Zelzah Avenue will create more parking capacity.

The G3 parking structure is going to have around 1500 parking spaces and likely have five stories, he said.

He said an access road is planned to connect Nordhoff Street to the planned G3 parking structure.

“It will be the true campus entry on the east side,” Donahue said. “Now we need to develop the eastside (of campus) to begin to balance the parking (on the west side).”

Building a parking structure on the G3 parking lot is one way the university plans to deal with traffic on the west side.

“G6 is targeted next (after G3 is finished) and G4 after that,” Donahue said. “The structures will be staggered in three year cycles.”

The parking structure was completed in 2003 had 1,327 spaces, and the last structure built in 2005 had 2,063, he said. Donahue said the target ratio for parking spaces to students is two full-time equivalent students to one parking space.

There are around 33,000 enrolled students at CSUN, which amounts to about 25,000 full-time equivalent students.

“You would try to have one space for every two students,” he said. “(That) is the target.”

Donahue said that using the number of full-time equivalent students to figure out the parking needs of CSUN has been effective.

“We know from experience that it will works on our campus,” Donahue said.

Funding for parking projects comes from parking revenues consisting of semester permits and day permits, Donahue said.

There are a total of three parking structures that are part of the Envision 2035 plan, said Adam Haverstock, A.S. assistant finance director.

“Their hoping that it (the parking structure) will alleviate the traffic on the west side (along Etiwanda Avenue and Nordhoff Street),” Haverstock said.

Susan Aragon, junior sociology major, said she drives down Nordhoff Street from the 405 Freeway and has often seen the traffic congestion on the Nordhoff Street.

“I see accidents all the time from people making lane changes,” Aragon said. “It would be a good idea (to put in parking structures).”

Aragon said she would she would use the G3 parking structure.

“It would minimize the accidents (on Nordhoff Street),” Aragon said.

Aragon said she remembers people telling her how bad the parking was on campus before the most recently built parking structure, B3, was built.

Naris Kesheshe, freshman sociology major, takes the 405 from Sunland to the 118 Freeway to get to school and parks in the G3 parking lot.

She said when she gets to school around 7:30 a.m., she can find parking spaces but by 10:00 a.m. the parking lot is pretty full.

Kesheshe said she likes the idea of an access road that would allow entry into the G3 parking lot.

She said being able to use the planned parking structure during her time at CSUN is worth the extra cost.

“If it’s going to affect me within the next three years, then it’s worth it,” Kesheshe said.