Fed up with Southwestern College students parking in their neighborhood, residents of College Estates will soon sign a petition to ask the Chula Vista City Council to adopt a preferential parking district.
College Estates is a small community across the street from the college that includes more than 250 homes.
A preferential parking district would require residents to purchase up to four parking permits with a possible cost of $20 each, allowing residents and their guests exclusive parking in the district, those parked without a permit could be cited, said Bill Valle, an engineer with the city of Chula Vista.
The petition comes after residents became tired of students invading their streets with their cars.
“The student parkers have just overwhelmed the neighborhood across the street from the school,” said College Estates resident Bob Muff.
Muff has lived at his home on Xavier Avenue for 30 years and said the problem has persisted throughout the years.
But recently, he said, the problem has worsened.
“We can’t have guests, we can’t park, we can’t have any delivery trucks come in and park in front of the house. It just goes on and on and on,” he said.
Muff added that the situation adds lots of traffic congestion in the neighborhood, loud noise from blaring car radios and car alarms going off at all hours of the day. He also said students frequently litter the area.
Muff said he has approached the students and asked why they park there and he said most say they want to avoid paying for a student parking permit.
A student-parking pass at Southwestern College costs $40 per semester.
SWC Chief Public Information Officer Lillian Leopold said the college has tried to alleviate the problem by reducing the cost of parking or designating certain parking lots free of charge.
Leopold said despite this, some students still prefer to park at College Estates.
“Even when we have offered free parking, they (students) still park across the street,” she said.
A meeting took place about two weeks ago between residents, the city of Chula Vista, college administrators and the Chula Vista Police Department with the suggestion of zoning the College Estates area as a preferential parking district.
“Hopefully that will keep the student parkers, the noise and the trash out of the neighborhood,” Muff said.
Leopold said the SWC campus police agreed to patrol the College Estates area. She said the school spends about $50,000 a year patrolling the area for parking and traffic violations.
Valle said he and staff have examined the preferential parking districts with residential homes near San Diego State University and UC San Diego.
He said a preferred parking district successfully works in those neighborhoods and thinks it can solve the issue with residents near SWC.
“We will probably start off with a preferred parking district on a trial basis,” Valle said. “I think the residents are right in saying we need to consider a parking district.”
Valle said currently the city does not have an ordinance in place to stop students from parking at College Estates.
If a preferred parking district is implemented then an ordinance needs to be drafted, he said.
