The CC Lot on North Campus closed on Monday as the North Campus Residential Expansion entered its next phase, a move that prompted complaints after forcing students to find alternative parking options.
In an email sent on March 29, Vice President for Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi and Vice President of Facilities and Campus Services Rick Burgess detailed upcoming changes to North Campus facilities, including permanent closure of the CC Lot and a contractor job trailer near A Lot, as well as the demolition of 10 Sisson Place in mid-April.
According to Gillian Smith, a spokesperson for Cornell, this email was sent to North Campus residents. However, The Sun has learned that not all students living on North Campus received this email.
Lombardi and Burgess said in the same email that the University will soon begin site preparation on the home of future sophomore residence halls and dining facility now that the preliminary site plan has been approved by the City of Ithaca.
The closure of CC Lot and the roadblocks due to construction, however, has drawn frustration from many North Campus students with cars on campus
“The closure makes me angry,” Javahar Patel ’22 told The Sun. “I have to take alternate routes because a road is closed and now have to park in A Lot, which is much farther from my dorm.”
Sabrina Sam ’22 echoed the sentiment, saying that her “convenience is taken away.”
In a separate email, Transportation Services said the parking lot next to the Robert Purcell Living Center will also be closed temporarily around April 30. The email advised students to use the ND permit spaces located in the Anna Comstock Hall, Hurlburt House, Program House Drive parking lots and Thurston Court Apartments lot.
Transportation Services is “confident that adequate parking will remain available for permit holders during all phases of the project,” the email continued.
Students had the option to return their ND permit for a prorated refund before March 31, but it was not a logistically viable option for many. With only a few weeks left in the semester, students who returned their permit would have few options for parking their car elsewhere until they finished the term.
The timing of the closure also led to complaints.
“Why [does] the CC Lot closure has to happen now and not at the end of the semester when most of the people living on North are gone?” Sam said.
“They should have closed it during winter break or summer,” Patel said. “I will be wary of buying a permit in the future because of inconveniences like this.”