As the year begins, one issue that a licensed student may deal with is the expense of parking permits. Some students wonder what other parking areas are available for those who don’t want to pay the $200 fee.
Although there are neighborhoods near the school, all of these residential areas contain “No Parking” signs. According to Officer Bacon, the current fine for parking in a residential zone without a specific residential permit is $50, and a violator is also subject to towing (code 82-5A-12).
Unlike schools such as Oakton and McLean where parking is available on streets outside the school lot, students at South Lakes have no options other than riding a bus, paying steep parking fees, or getting a ride from a friend.
Students who receive free and reduced lunch are able to receive permits at a lower rate. Otherwise, there is no flexibility in the cost.
Already, the security staff, led by security specialist Brian Elliot, is cracking down. On Monday, September 12, the security team distributed warnings to students about parking violations. The next day, the team already began enforcing the warnings, spending all of 8th period checking the parking lot and distributing appropriate fines.
Those who fail to display their permit are given a $5 fine. Those who do not own a permit receive a bright orange $25 dollar parking fee notice.
There is hope for those who have already received a ticket.
“For the first couple of weeks of school any student who received a ticket could come to the security office, buy a permit and have the ticket removed,” said Elliot.
According to Elliot, there is a master Excel spreadsheet with a list of all the license plate numbers. Since a violator is discovered by the lack of a permit, not a specific license plate number, the violation fee is always the same.
“It isn’t my goal to take money from kids,” said Elliot. “We write tickets to better serve the students who do buy permits. Those kids pay a lot of money and it’s just not fair for someone else to take a parking space for nothing.”
