"I challenge the student body to find amongst themselves 100 students who are currently sophomores or juniors with parking permits who are willing to give up their parking permits for next year," he told The Amherst Student on Monday, formalizing a plan he had unofficially presented to students over the past week.
"In doing so the community will come together to make it unnecessary to scar the landscape anywhere with additional parking lots for next year," Marx said. "I am open to proposals for how to encourage students to give up their parking permit, whether it be by increasing the cost of parking permits or by my providing an incentive."
The proposed lot would be located past the lower tennis courts, in an area currently used for construction parking. The area is already cleared of trees frequently because it is located underneath power lines.
Marx has offered to spend up to $20,000 to be used as an incentive to reduce the demand for student parking permits. He has left it up to students to propose how to spend the money.
According to Zeke Phillips '05, a group of students plans to pursue this option, in addition to exploring long-term solutions. Phillips and other concerned students are in the process of planning how to best use the money to provide students with incentives to give up their parking permits for next year.
Marx acknowledged the solution would not be a long-term one, but noted that the administration must act quickly to replace the 90 spots that will be lost next year. Most will be lost when construction of a new geology building behind Fayerweather Hall begins this summer on what is currently a faculty parking lot. Alumni Lot will be used for faculty parking, leaving students with fewer parking spaces. As construction continues for the next few years, more spots will be lost as construction workers utilize more on-campus parking.
Marx said reducing demand for next year will allow long-term alternatives to be explored more thoroughly.
When students and faculty expressed concern over the location of the proposed parking lot a week ago, Marx halted plans to open the project for bidding and has since been communicating with students and faculty to explore alternatives.
Last Wednesday, students met with Director of Physical Plant Jim Brassord to discuss alternatives to the proposed lot. Brassord asked the group to turn in a formal list of proposals.
In an e-mail sent to Brassord after the meeting, Michael Page '05 outlined a proposal for a lot on the upper tennis courts located next to the modular housing. Although concerns about aesthetics had ruled this space out, Page said he believes it should be reconsidered.
"I also know that the aesthetic of the campus is of foremost concern, but, like the Merrill parking lot, the tennis courts are amazingly hidden from all views except the fields below," he wrote. "In addition to the convenience of such a central, yet hidden parking lot is the possibility that this lot could actually prove less costly, given the already leveled and paved surface."
At last night's faculty meeting, professors expressed widespread support for a temporary lot on the upper tennis courts. According to Professor of Classics Rebecca Sinos, the lot could be used for parking during the school year and could be re-converted to courts for summer tennis camps held at the College.
The lot would also present fewer security concerns and require less pavement than a lot closer to the bird sanctuary, and could be eventually expanded to include the area where the modular housing currently stands.
Students said they were concerned both with the location of the lot, and also with the seeming lack of public information about it.
"Clearly there are environmental concerns that arise when the administration plans on building a parking lot that intrudes upon valued forest area, but my opposition to the bird sanctuary lot itself was initially grounded in issues of public information and has grown into a desire to see the College community reassess parking in general at Amherst," said David Molina '05.
Marx has made it clear that he is willing to look at alternatives to the parking lot, but that he will need student help to do so. "The administration has in effect thrown a gauntlet to the student body, stating that they are willing to compromise over the sanctuary parking lot but that the impetus for this change must come from students," said Jack Morgan '05. "It is our responsibility to find viable alternative lots or to diminish demand for parking permits."
There are many factors involved in the decision. "In exploring our options to replace the lost parking slots we have had to weigh the competing claims of safety, the aesthetics of the central campus, environmental concerns and the conversation of resources for our central education mission," Marx said.
If the administration decided to proceed with the original plan, there would still be flexibility in the size of the lot, according to Marx, potentially eliminating the need to cut down any trees.