Construction of a shopping center on campus has raised questions about safety and parking for students and administration.
The owner of property located on the north end of Calhoun Road originally proposed the building of an 11,764-square-foot retail space.
Under City Ordinance Chapter 26, the retail space is required to have 96 parking spaces. To keep non-patrons from filling the parking lot, the owner requested a variance to reduce it to 27 spaces.
Former Student Government Association Vice President Jonas Chin said this request is detrimental to students.
‘This is not a question of whether the University wants or does not want to develop this land,’ Chin said. ‘This is a concern over safety for students, especially those who are trying to get to class on time, and making sure there is adequate parking for people who are visiting the establishments.’
On July 23, UH was granted a hearing with the Houston Planning Commission concerning the variance request, but the hearing was deferred until Aug. 6.
Before this hearing, UH received a revised variance request, which proposed a 15,000-square-foot retail space with 60 parking spaces instead of the required 120. In a 10-2 vote at the Aug. 6 hearing, the owner was granted a parking variance of 60 spots for the planned retail center.
SGA members have presented arguments to the City of Houston Planning Commission, voicing their concern about limited parking and safety hazards.
‘Parking needs to be resolved,’ SGA President Kenneth Fomunung said. ‘Our first priority is student concern, and we want to make sure parking is not a safety issue.’
SGA members raised several point of contention, including the ability for the business to succeed. An estimated 50 to 70 percent of the businesses’ traffic must come from pedestrians.
‘Parking is a scarce commodity on campus, and providing inadequate parking could make the problem worse,’ Chin said. ‘This is important as it is our experience that these types of retail venues cannot rely on foot traffic alone.
‘Most of the campus drives to school and, in the humidity, most students do not like walking across campus.’
UH shuttles will make stops, providing service to the East Transit Center and outlying parking lots.
