On Tuesday, the vision plan goes before the USF Board of Trustees. The plan looks to increase enrollment from 4,700 to 10,000 students by 2024. At The Crow’s Nest, we believe there’s a lot to like in that plan.
The campus will remain small compared to other state universities such as USF Tampa, University of Florida and Florida State University. We retain our small charm and the personal attention we receive from our professors and deans. Yet, we will gain resources to make campus life more vibrant. More on-campus students mean a more-active student body, and ultimately, better campus life, which is something that has been a goal of administrators for a long time.
But we believe some logistical concerns have been overlooked by both campus administrators and the city of St. Petersburg. If the USF St. Petersburg experience is to remain positive, these problems must be addressed before the plan is put into motion.
On the eve of this Board of Trustees meeting, the city of St. Petersburg removed several parking spaces along 6th Avenue S, installing a wide grassy median and a bike lane as an extension of the Pinellas Trail. Last semester, lack of parking had become a growing problem on campus. Now, as we look to expand, the city takes away more parking, telling students they can find other spots downtown.
We think the Pinellas Trail expansion is a great asset to the city, but not at the expense of parking at the only public university in Pinellas County. And while the large medians provide nice landscaping, we think they are waste of space on a downtown street.
We can look to the Pinellas Trail in Clearwater for solutions. While this part of the trail is arguably not the best part of the trail, Clearwater appropriately took advantage of the space it had. On parts of Fort Harrison Avenue, the trail merges with the sidewalk. Along 6th Avenue S in St. Petersburg, we have a wide sidewalk, where the trail could go.
We understand cycling on a sidewalk is not ideal. But this is only a small part of the trail, and taking away parking spaces at a downtown university campus is not ideal either.
We urge the city: Help USFSP find more parking as it expands. Don’t take away parking, and expect students to have a positive experience as the university grows. Because attending a campus with 10,000 students and little parking will be a miserable.
USFSP also faces other problems regarding space. The flight path of Albert Whitted Airport bars the university from building up in many areas. Downtown real estate is in high demand, and an acre can cost $1 million or more, according to Paula Clair Smith, a broker associate at Merritt Realty.
These problems need to be addressed before enrollment increases. This vision plan could make USFSP and the city of St. Petersburg an even greater destination than they are now. The plan could finally allow USFSP to define itself as a university, and could attract some bright students to the St. Petersburg area.
But if USFSP is unable to purchase land, and the city of St. Petersburg is unwilling to help us find better parking, the plan could be worse than we anticipate.
