Some residents of Ropp Hall say finding a parking spot has become a bit of a struggle since Hirschy-Annex has been under construction and many of its former residents have moved into Ropp Hall.
“I go home every weekend and I have to park in the back of Ropp to take my stuff in and then go back and try to find a parking spot and it takes like 20 minutes,” said Ropp resident, Kelley Bubalo. “There’s times that I’ll have to go over to Neufeld and park there and now it takes me like 5 minutes to walk to my car every day.”
Bubalo isn’t the only Ropp resident who thinks that this is an inconvenience. Chad said he thinks this is starting to become an issue.
“It’s a little bit of an inconvenience,” Gundy said. “If I want to go to Taco Bell or something it dissuades me from doing that because it is such a far walk.”
Ropp resident Alex Bilen said he thinks the parking crunch is because of the large amount of Hirschy-Annex students who moved into Ropp this semester.
“I think it’s probably just the amount of people that we have in the building this year,” Bilen said. “Now that it’s here, it makes sense that there’s overcrowding as far as the parking lots are concerned.”
Caleb Farmer, director of Residence Life at Bluffton University, acknowledges that it is an issue but said it is nothing compared to what students on larger campuses go through.
“I understand that it’s a bit of an issue, but being on a smaller campus, even our further lots are closer than a lot of bigger campuses closer ones,” said Farmer.
Farmer also said faculty and staff have given up their parking spots to create more student spots in the Sauder Lot, which previously was reserved for faculty and staff.
“I think the university giving up faculty and staff parking spots is a testament to the university faculty and staff wanting the most safe and convenient parking opportunities for the students,” Farmer said.
Construction in Hirschy-Annex is on schedule to be done before the start of the spring semester when two floors in Ropp will move back to Annex, which means there should be lower demand for parking in the Ropp Lot, Farmer said.
