Home / 2019 / October / East Remote Solar Project

East Remote Solar Project

To: UCSC Community

From: Dan Henderson, Director of Transportation and Parking Services

October 09, 2019

On March 1, 2019, the campus’ long-planned solar panel installation began in the East Remote parking lot. While this project has made significant progress and completion is in sight, the final phases are scheduled to continue into winter.  During construction, parking availability in the East Remote parking lot will continue to be directly affected. Daily and Quarterly R permit sales during the remainder of the project will be closely monitored and limited. 

The final work to install the photovoltaic array will be conducted in phases, each requiring the closure of various amounts of parking spaces. Throughout the remainder of the project, we anticipate approximately upwards of one-third of the parking in East Remote will be unavailable at any given time.  

Signs will be posted prior to, and during, each closure in specifically affected areas in the East Remote lot.  Vehicles that are parked in posted construction areas are subject to tow. To most effectively avoid construction impacts, it is recommended that you park within Overflow 5, particularly if you are a campus resident and / or if your vehicle will be parked for extended periods of time.

Follow TAPS on Twitter for the most up to date information on this project and any related traffic updates.  Finally, TAPS has developed a special section of our website where updated project status and other helpful information will be provided.

To proactively mitigate potential impacts, the following measures have already been undertaken:

  • Approximately 200 Remote spaces were added north of the East Remote lot, within Overflow 5.

  • TAPS has expanded our daily parking lot surveys to identify additional parking efficiencies and availability.

  • In anticipation of this project, TAPS reduced the available quantity of Academic and Annual R permits prior to Fall Quarter, 2019.

TAPS always encourages the use of alternate transportation methods to avoid parking-related delays. This is the perfect time to take advantage of these great resources:

  • Bikes: Click here for UCSC Bike Program services / safety information and click here for Santa Cruz JUMP bike information

  • Vanpooling or Ridesharing: Click here for information about other UCSC Commute Options, including our Vanpool, Carpool and more.

  • Santa Cruz METRO

    • *** Note - To continue to board METRO buses, all UCSC students must have the current Fall enrollment sticker on their student IDs by October 9th. 

“Slugs Go Solar” marks another step toward UCSC’s efforts to attain a sustainable carbon footprint by generating clean, reliable electricity for the campus. Projects of this magnitude require campus-wide collaboration and we thank everyone for their efforts and patience thus far. Your continued contribution to this goal will be an everyday effort and we appreciate and acknowledge your commitment to keeping UCSC one of the top sustainable campuses in the country. Please let us know if you require additional information.