Fullerton : Parking Plan OKd Near Cal State Fraternities

Without much ado, the City Council voted 4 to 1 Tuesday for a parking-permit program in the area around Cal State Fullerton’s fraternity row.

Beginning in 30 days, residents of single-family homes will receive free permits to park in the neighborhood. Enforcement will be “extremely strict,” City Manager Bill Winter said.

Councilman Richard Ackerman cast the lone dissenting vote. Earlier this week Ackerman said he would prefer that a wall be built between the fraternities and the neighborhood--an idea the council rejected.

“The wall would have been a better long-term solution,” Ackerman said.

For the fraternities near the area, however, the ordinance will pose a definite problem on weekends, when fraternity members and their guests cruise the neighborhood looking for parking spots.

Only those people with permits will be allowed to park in the area north of the seven fraternities. Residents who live on Amherst Avenue, Shawn Lane, Sherwood Avenue and portions of Derek Drive and Teri Place will be allowed one permit per registered car and five guest permits per home, city spokeswoman Sylvia Palmer Mudrick said.

Council members hope the parking-permit program will alleviate the tension between the fraternity members and their neighbors. Residents of the nearby homes and apartments have repeatedly complained about loud parties, litter and lack of parking spaces.

Fraternity members point to their trash pickups and fewer and quieter parties as an indication that they’re working to make things better.

“We’re trying to cooperate,” Lambda Chi Alpha president Rob Jenican said. “We’ve limited the number of parties and people.”