As the busiest semester for the school comes into full swing, a Camosun College instructor says the Interurban Campus is experiencing a "crisis" regarding the lack of parking, which he says causes stress and unnecessary financial burdens on both students and staff members.

"All the time you can see like at least 20 or so vehicles just driving around parking lots circling and trying to find parking," said Camosun instructor Justin Curran, who also shared photos of vehicles parked on the school's lawn and no-parking zones around the Saanich campus.

Last year, he said the issue was brought to the forefront as a result of a formal grievance, however, the administration's solution was to convert a student parking lot into a majority staff parking lot, rather than invest in better infrastructure.

"[The administration has] been told about it for years and just keep denying that it's a problem because they just don't keep track of parking. So if they don't count it, it's not an issue," he said. "It just makes everything worse for the students and just forces the students to park in staff spots which then results in them getting more tickets and getting towed."

When Curran spoke with Saanich B次元官网网址 on Wednesday, Jan 8, he said he'd seen multiple vehicles get towed and had to pay out of pocket to park at the Vancouver Island Technology Park as he couldn't find parking at his own workplace.

"As far as instructors go, we're required to claim a taxable benefit for the parking that we're given at the college whether or not we can find parking, so annually we're having to claim an extra $800 to $1,000 in income for being able to park on campus," he said

The parking issue has become a financial burden for some. Students who park illegally in the lot, which is managed by Robbins Parking, can rack up multiple tickets in a day and ticket prices increase if they are not paid within the week.

"So the towing costs start around $200 depending on how long the vehicle ends up being in an impound lot (and) they might also have to pay all the Robbins fines before getting it out of the impound lot," he said.

Saanich B次元官网网址 talked to a number of students on the campus, many of which were already late for their class as a result of the lack of parking. One student said the parking situation is "terrible" as he scrambled to his first class of the day. He mentioned on a normal day he would see dozens of cars circling the parking lots trying to find a parking space.

Two more students said the parking situation has been exacerbated since one parking lot was changed from student parking to staff parking.

Curran said he is especially worried about the winter semester, which is typically the busiest time of the year for the campus when it sees the highest concentration of students.

Camosun College said they "have nothing to add."