Game-Day Parking Designations Cause Confusion, Towing

Unclear designation of the university’s parking area in the Springtown lot has caused attendees to be towed after parking in the wrong section.

The shopping center lot, located at the intersection of Springtown Way and Thorpe Lane, is used for additional parking during home football games this season. The university only pays to use one-third of the space for game-day parking, said Steve Prentice, assistant director of Parking Services.

Attendees pay to park in the university’s section but are towed if they leave their cars outside the designated area, he said.

A record number of people attended the football game against Navy on Sept. 13, Prentice said. The university ran out of spaces, and people were forced to park wherever they could.

“We got a call from one of our staff that works out there that Twin Liquors and some of the other places—they were going out and towing people outside of where we park folks,” Prentice said.

An announcement at the stadium ran three times before the game began warning attendees about towing if their cars were parked beyond the university’s section, Prentice said. Parking Services staff circled the lot telling people parking outside of the designated area they were going to be towed.

“We went over and tried to get folks out of there before they did get towed,” Prentice said.

Sarah Nonaka, physical therapy doctoral student, drove Jaxsen Day, computer information systems sophomore, a disabled student, to the Navy game. Her car was towed because she parked in a spot outside of the university’s designated area.

“We were verbally told by parking staff that were manning the normal lot, the actual stadium lot, that this spot was an overflow lot for the stadium,” said Day.

Nonaka said she saw the cones and rope sectioning off the parking lot and thought she was in the right area.

“All I saw was people crossing the street, so I was like, ‘OK, cool, obviously other people are parking and crossing the street, so I should be OK, especially since I’m in a handicap spot with a handicap placard,” Nonaka said.

Nonaka explained no attendant was in the lot to give her a ticket stub to park or collect money from her.

“I’m just like, ‘OK, there’s no one here, maybe they stop ticketing after a certain time,’” Nonaka said.

Nonaka felt the university could do more to clarify things for people parking in the Springtown lot.

The area designated for university use was surrounded by four-foot-tall cones weighing about 50 pounds and connected by heavy rope with tiny flags, according to Prentice.

“There’s handicapped parking inside our area, and there’s handicapped parking on the outside of it,” Prentice said. “We don’t promote that as an area for disabled persons parking, though.”

Day said Parking Services should more clearly designate parking areas for game attendees.

“Before they put (parking staff) out there on game day when it’s hectic, train them,” Day said. “Tell them where people can park if there’s no parking in the stadium, but exactly where, not just like, ‘Over here in this big lot.’”

No one was stationed at the side of the lot where Nonaka was towed. That side is opposite from the only entrance to the university’s area of the lot, said Nancy Nusbaum, interim director of Transportation Services.

“The same guards are at that lot every game,” Nusbaum said. “We just had no idea we would’ve had the amount of people that showed up for the Navy game.”

Nusbaum said owners of the other section of the lot are responsible for putting up more signage informing people they will be towed for parking in non-university spots.

Nusbaum said Parking Services officials will put a sign in the lot on game day to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Benjamin Enriquez is a news reporter for the University Star where this story was originally published, and is reprinted here through a news partnership.  |  @CorridorNews