The dirt and gravel lot situated on the northern side of the Sacramento State campus, near Shasta Hall, was originally intended to fulfill construction requirements while Riverview Hall was being built.

“That lot is not contained in the campus master plan as being a parking facility,” said Jeff Dierking, the director of University Transportation and Parking Services (UTAPS). “It was put in as a temporary measure to facilitate with the construction projects going on.”

Temporary: Only for a while vs. For the time being

Although intended for temporary use, the lot is now utilized by students and faculty for overflow parking. Recognizing the lot as Temporary Parking Lot 2A, UTAPS continues to perform regular maintenance work to create the maximum amount of parking in that space.

“We do improvements to the lot every semester on an ongoing basis,” Dierking said. “It does need to be graded on a regular basis because you will have potholes, we do have wheel stops out there … we go out and we have those repaired.”

Is it enough?

Although Dierking recognizes the congestion currently being experienced by those who park in the high-traffic lot, he points out that it’s not intended to be a primary structured parking space.

“If that is designated a permanent lot space, then we’d be able to take action to make it into a more permanent lot,” he said.

Cosmo Hutchins, a Sacramento State student majoring in construction management who frequently parks his vehicle in the lot, said that although things could be better, he understands the temporary nature of the parking lot.

“As far as a temporary parking lot, it’s in a great location, it’s a great spot and provides more parking for students,” Hutchins said. “There’s a lot of other buildings and places on campus that can maybe use the resources other than a parking lot. … I think it’s great that they maintain it to the level they do.”

What the future may hold

Since Temporary Parking Lot 2A was not contained in the 2015 Campus Master Plan , its fate now rests on whether it might be included in any future campus master plans after 2035.

“Usually 10 years is a good time to do master plan updates and we’re trying to get prepared to do that,” said Victor Takahashi, the director of planning and construction services at Facilities Management. “We hope to get that started because it’s about the right time.”

Takahashi points out incorporating environmental and sustainability studies together with transportation and parking analyses will be necessary when updating the master plan.

“We’ll base our master plan based on what the study informs us on,” Takahashi said. “We’ll take a look at all those factors. … It’s really done with a lot of thought, (and) we will want to do it right for the long term.”