This fall, the first parking deck was introduced to the UNCW campus. Located at the corner of Reynolds and Cahill drives, the parking deck was built to help ease commuter parking problems. The parking deck provides 940 parking spaces to the UNCW campus, with 700 spaces for students, 150 spaces for faculty, and the remaining spaces for visitors. While the parking deck provides the UNCW campus with close to 1,000 new parking spaces, the question everyone seems to be asking around campus is, “Is anyone really seeing the difference?”

The $12 million brick-clad, three-story deck is built in close proximity to the new on-campus residence, the Seahawk Crossing. Many students believe the only reason the deck was built was to support the possible parking problems the new residence hall would create. Junior Kevin Howey remarks that “while the new parking deck is a great addition to our campus, I feel like it really only benefits the people living in the Crossing.”

Rita Gordon, director of Auxiliary Services at UNCW, commented that the parking deck was the “best ecological option to provide additional parking to the UNCW campus,” and that the deck has taken a substantial amount of pressure off of Parking Zone 1. Michael Lechich, a junior at UNCW and currently parking in Zone 1, agrees with Gordon. “Since the new parking deck has been built, I have really seen a noticeable increase in the spots available and have not had a problem with parking this year,” he said.

Some UNCW students still believe the campus is experiencing a parking problem, though, especially in regards to the number of parking tickets being given out. A number of groups on the popular social networking site Facebook have been created that criticize UNCW Auxiliary Services and comment on the current parking problem the campus is experiencing.

“UNCW’s Parking Dilemma,” a Facebook group that has over 600 members, provides information regarding the on-campus parking situation and lets students voice their complaints publicly. James England, the head administrator and an active member of the group, comments that there needs to be “many, very necessary changes to the system.” England also admits that he does not think changes will occur because “the primary complainers (the students) graduate and move on.”