College of the Canyons (COC) has begun the rollout on some new parking programs for students as construction on a 1,000 spot parking structure is set to begin on campus, which will temporarily shut down hundreds of parking spots in the often crowded college parking lot.

“In addition to scheduling more classes at the Canyon Country Campus and spreading course offerings throughout the day at the Valencia Campus, we have developed several strategies to mitigate the loss of 700 student spaces and ensure that students still find the campus to be convenient and accessible during construction,” said a news release issued by College of the Canyons officials.

The various programs, which were approved during the Dec. 6 COC Board of Trustees meeting in anticipation of construction taking up an estimated 700 existing parking spots, are scheduled to begin concurrently with the storage and construction needs of the project.

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“New discounts will be offered on Lyft and Uber rides to and from the campus,” said the COC news release. “A satellite lot, near the campus, is being completed and will offer free parking. Students and staff can park there and use Uber or Lyft to be dropped off at campus.”

The ride-share discounts offered by the school should allow for the satellite parkers to have free Uber and Lyfts to the campus, according to officials.

“We have communicated with students indicating that we will not require parking permits after 2 p.m. in student lots,” said the COC news release. “We are encouraging students to take afternoon classes.”

Additionally, the school plans to convert some of the space already allotted for athletic fields into parking lots during construction.

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“We expect to begin work next week on the temporary ‘Upper Field Lot’ next to the current soccer field,” said the College of the Canyons news release. “That space will be converted from athletic fields to parking and accommodate around 160 spaces that we will designate for staff parking.”

Construction is scheduled to begin around March 14, and officials plan to close Lot 7 around March 7.

“It will take about a year to build the structure,” said school officials.

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