BYU’s student population growth has been well documented, and its library-expansion project illustrates the administration’s dedication to adapting to this growth.
One might assume all the bureaucracies connected with BYU — i.e. on and off-campus housing, parking, food services and even the testing center — have been forced to adjust as well.
However, there are some problems that appear to surface within those bureaucracies constantly. For instance, problems with off-campus parking have been a hot topic all semester, and no one seems to be solving the problem.
In Monday’s edition of The Daily Universe, it was reported that five of the largest BYU-approved off-campus apartment complexes, according to a survey conducted by The Daily Universe, were found to be in violation of their parking ordinances.
Parking ordinances require landowners to provide one parking spot per vehicle.
John Pace, BYU off-campus housing director, questioned the validity of the survey, but said if the city did acknowledge a parking problem, BYU would be more likely to get involved in finding a resolution to the problem.
“We would work with the city to resolve the problem,” Pace said.
Richard Secrist, Provo Community Development director, said no study is being done, but there have been studies conducted in the past. He said BYU could help solve the problem with tougher requirements for BYU approval.
Pace said BYU does not get involved in off-campus parking because it is a specialized area. Instead, BYU allows the city to determine what is appropriate.
“We let them be the experts on it,” Pace said. “We rely upon them to notify us of any problems.”
Assuming the city finds the same results reported by The Daily Universe, what then would BYU do?
Would a threat of removing the BYU-approved-housing label be enough to force the complexes into solving the problem?
“It might help,” Pace said. “I don’t know for sure though. In the process of taking away BYU approval, we’d give warnings to them.”
The bottom line is the following: Money talks. If BYU were to come down hard on the apartment complexes found in violation and take away their approved-housing title, solutions would be found one way or another.
Moreover, another possible solution would be for the city to be tougher on those who break its zoning regulations. Secrist said that’s difficult because the turnover in apartment complexes is so high, and witnesses who could testify against zoning violators are hard to find.
“The practical difficulty we have is to enforce zoning restrictions,” Secrist said. “People lie and cover up violations.”
To be fair, many of the complexes surveyed were built many years ago before the car boom hit college towns like Provo. However, if BYU, and UVSC for that matter, are going to accept more students, apartments have to adjust accordingly.
We believe if the city really wanted crack the whip on apartment owners it could find witnesses to testify on the tenants’ behalf.
One BYU student said in disgust, “If Brigham Young was inspired to leave space for elevator shafts in the Salt Lake Temple, why couldn’t he have told the off-campus housing authorities to leave space for parking?”
Perhaps his observation made in jest can be applied in the following way: If Provo and BYU are going to continue to grow at the current pace, then it is up to the city or the university find an answer to the problem.
