Faculty and staff said they are having some problems with parking while the new parking deck on the east side of campus is being built.

The Department of Public Safety’s Parking Division is in the process of erecting a two-level parking deck in place of what was formerly Lot 50B, said Douglas Houghton, program manager for public safety.

The construction site is located near the intersection of Knoll and Wallace roads.

Lot 50B was a reserved parking area for faculty and staff members. Lot 50C, located next to the future deck, is a general parking area, he said.

Those who formally parked in Lot 50B currently park in Lot 50C until construction is finished, Houghton said. Those who parked in Lot 50C have been pushed to other lots on campus.

Elizabeth Orcutt-Kroeger, permit-holder and administrative specialist for the department of English said parking is not a problem early in the morning.

“My new parking spot only causes problems if I try to park in mid-morning,” Orcutt-Kroeger said.

Helen Ewald, Lot 50B permit-holder and professor of English, agreed parking spots are difficult to find mid-morning.

“For the third time this week there were no slots in 50B when I arrived at 10:15 [a.m.]. There were a number of cars without 50B stickers parked there,” Ewald said. “I parked in 50A and called parking. They said I might get a ticket, so I waited 30 minutes and moved my car.”

There was a need for this deck due to an increase in students and faculty needing to park near the new Gerdin Business Building, Warren Madden, vice president of business and finance, said.

“I think the new parking deck is a great idea,” said Tom Hillson, Lot 50B permit-holder and system support specialist for the Agriculture Experiment Station.

“I am glad they are building more parking facilities rather than putting a new building on top of one. I just hope they are looking to continue the expansion in the future.”

The entire project budget for the parking ramp is approximately $3 million, Houghton said. It is funded by parking fees and fines.

The parking division receives no tuition or state assistance, he said.

“We have had a three year parking fee increase to help support this project,” Houghton said.

The new project will include ground parking and a deck above it, Houghton said.

“Most of the spaces will be reserved parking and about 100 spaces will be pay by the hour,” he said. “The pay scheme will be similar to that of the Lied Recreation Center parking lot.”

The Lied Recreation Center has numbered stalls and users enter the stall number into the meter. They then set the time they need and pay accordingly.

The former Lot 50B members will be permitted to park in the new deck, Houghton said.

“If we get some of the lower spaces, it will be great not to [have to] scrape my windows during the winter,” Orcutt-Kroeger said. “If we get the upper deck, there won’t be much of a difference.”

However, Hillson said he thinks it will affect visitors more than faculty and staff.

“I think having visitor parking on this side of campus will be great for Iowa State,” he said.

Lots 50B and 50C were open to anyone on nights and weekends prior to construction, and the deck will probably be the same way, Madden said.

“If this parking ramp works out it would make an enormous difference in parking if more ramps were built around campus, subsidized by fees and other sources,” Orcutt-Kroeger said.

The deck will be open for use in the fall semester, Madden said.