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Council reduces scheduled parking fee hike When the MUSC Board of Trustees in May 2000 approved a four-year schedule of parking fee increases, the board plan provided that rates could not exceed the approved schedule.  But they could be less. And less is what the April 3 President’s Council settled on for fiscal year 2003 rate hikes to be effective July 1. “The rate increases are necessary in order to repair and maintain the MUSC parking system and to fund the construction of additional parking facilities,” said Office of Parking Management director Melinda Anderson. The monthly fee for parking in off-campus reserved parking locations will increase from $20 a month to $25.  The parking locations to which this rate applies are Harborview Tower parking garage and Lockwood Drive parking lot. The monthly rate for reserved on-campus parking locations will increase from $45 a month to $50. The monthly rates for both on-campus and off-campus reserved parking are $5 less than authorized in the May 2000 schedule. The Hagood commuter parking lot will continue to be offered at no charge. The one-time registration fee for first-time parkers in the reserved parking system will increase from $15 to $20.  There continues to be no charge for registering for the Hagood commuter parking system. Changes in payroll deduction for employees paying a monthly parking fee will be handled automatically.  Co-ordination of this process with UMA and MUHA payroll groups has already been initiated.  No action by individual employees will be necessary. The Board-approved rates for MUSC patient, visitor, and special event parking services for FY2003 are as follows: Hourly visitor parking, which includes cash transactions and transactions validated for courtesy parking by patient care areas, will remain at $.75 each half hour.  The all-day rate for inpatients and their families will increase from $2 a day to $3. The rate for special events such as seminars and conferences will increase from $4 a day to $5. Anderson said that although G-annex parkers—the university’s top administration—received a full parking fee hike straight to $75 when the four-year plan went into effect in FY2000, their fee was raised this time as well. G-annex parkers are paying $85 per month, which amounts to $1,020 annually. Monthly billings to the Authority will automatically reflect the increased daily rate for inpatient and inpatient family parking. The inpatient family’s share of the daily parking cost will be $3 for 24 hours of parking. The visitor pays this at time of exit from the parking facility. Administrators work to solve parking dilemma The High School of Charleston, that vacated brick building in Rutledge Tower’s backyard, and its adjacent property was deemed a prime location for a parking garage by the university’s Vision 2020 campus master plan. An architectural firm was selected to design the garage, but the project languished because of concerns over the impact on, and especially the future of, the former Charleston High School building. The design was never begun. So administrators decided to search for ways to build the garage and restore the building. But while funding exists for the parking garage, the university has neither the cash nor the capacity to borrow funds to restore or renovate the high school building. To solve the dilemma, the administration is developing a request for proposal (RFP) to invite commercial developers to submit proposals to renovate the Charleston High School building and build an approximate 800-space parking garage on the adjacent property. The parking garage will be leased back to MUSC, and parking revenues will pay for the parking garage. Rents and other sources would pay for the renovations to the high school. All of the arrangements depend on acceptance of a proposal.  “The choice of using an RFP process is directly related to locating investors willing and able to finance the renovation of Charleston High School,” said Office of Parking Management director Melinda Anderson.  She said that the RFP committee, made up of an architectural firm, a design-build project expert, legal counsel, and representatives from Parking Management, finance, engineering and facilities, university planning, and Health Sciences Foundation are working to complete the RFP and present it to the MUSC Board of Trustees.