Several students were chased away from Centennial Campus’ disc golf course by campus parking officials, threatening to fine them $50 if they did not have a permit to park.
David Nadel, a senior in environmental science said that “We went over there to play one day and he [the parking official] asked if we had an N.C. State parking pass, I felt like he was pretty rude about it because he pointed at the signs like we couldn’t read. I think that they should just turn that area into parking because you wouldn’t be at any advantage to walk from class to there anyway.”
Last year the University announced it would be building a 9-hole disc golf course in addition to the new Lonnie Pool Golf Course on Centennial Campus.
Since the opening of the course, many students have switched from their regular play at Kentwood Park on Kaplan Dr. to play the more challenging, tightly wooded course on Centennial.
The course is of professional quality, offering cement tee pads, hole diagrams and professional disc golf baskets. However, the one thing that the course lacks is parking.
Nadel said the small lot beside Lake Raleigh that is designated for parking, is known only by the few that use the docks for fishing or the boat launches for small canoes.
The lot itself is more than a mile from main campus, and the only people who would be at any advantage to park there and walk to class would be students in the College of Textiles.
However, parking on Centennial is ample, and usually students have no problem finding legal parking closer to their classes than the Lake Raleigh lot.
Tom Kendig, director of transportation at N.C. State said “During those enforcement hours [Monday-Friday, 9-5] we are requiring a permit of any kind, if you don’t have a permit then I don’t know what the answer would be, because I don’t think that when they set up the disc golf – the parking was actually set up for the fishing pier and was provided by the wildlife commission and we’ve had problems with folks trying to use the fishing pier and the disc golf – when they set up the pier I don’t think they took into account the parking needs”
Nadel said he was unsatisfied with only being able to use the course in the evenings and crowded weekend days.
“NC State parking discourages the students from parking in general and only being able topark after five prevents us from being able to play a whole game because of the lack of daylight,” Nadel said.
Regarding the enforcement of the Lake Raleigh lot, Kendig said, “If you were going to come use Miller fields during the day you would need a permit, how would it be any different?”
Casey Skinner, a senior in Agricultural Business Management said, “You can make it to anywhere on central campus by parking at Miller fields, but I don’t see how anyone would park at Centennial and walk over a mile to their classes just to get some free parking.”
“I think that State students are already pressed for time with classes and other obligations, and we should be able to use our own course during playable hours. What time do you play regular golf? You play nine to five. The parking official made the situation worse because not only did he threaten us with tickets, but also he didn’t offer any information on what we should do in the future. The transportation people could argue that you don’t need to park there, you could ride the bus or walk but what’s the point of having a course on campus that you can’t access without a hassle,” Skinner said.
