The 2017–18 school year will feature new parking stickers with specific labels relating to students’ on-campus residence, with separate labeling for those who live off campus being designated as “commuter.”
Prior to the 2016–17 school year, the ACU Police Department parking stickers have had no specific data other than the labels of “student” or “faculty and staff.” In the fall of 2016, sophomore women’s dorms Barret and Dillard were given specific tags to a designated parking area. This year the parking lot by these dorms will be available only to the women living in these halls.
The new parking stickers will be used by ACUPD to gather information and make sure parking situations are resolved smoothly across campus.
ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said having that specific data will help the department better plan for future parking solutions.
“We wanted to experiment with a better breakdown of who was actually buying student permits between resident students and off-campus students and which parts of the overall ACU parking system tend to be used in patterns by different groups of students,” he said.
The new parking labels are unrelated to the opening of Wildcat Stadium, he said. The Department of Athletics will control five parking lots on GameDays that will be used for VIP’s, certain ticket holders, and Wildcat Club members. These lots are Elmer Gray lot, the new stadium lot north of Edwards, the library lot, ACU Drive North, and the Morris Hall parking lot.
Residents of Morris Hall still will be able to access their regular parking on game days, however, game patrons with specific parking passes will be able to use the lot as well.
“If you live close enough, walk to the stadium. If anyone parks along the many side-streets near campus, we want to stress that these are residential neighborhoods and we need to be accordingly respectful of our neighbors and of city parking regulations,” Ellison said.
ACU police officers will be controlling most major intersections and streets around campus to keep the traffic organized and flowing smoothly.
“Hopefully after a game or two, people will settle into a routine, get used to the new normal of game day traffic and parking, and enjoy the exciting atmosphere it all creates,” Ellison said.
