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RCC decides againstlease for parking lot The Rogue Community College board rejected a proposed lease agreement Tuesday for a 100-space parking lot next to its Riverside Center in Medford. The lot, owned by Phyllis Skinner and her son John, is at 10th Street and Riverside Avenue. Board members said it would be financially imprudent to approve the $4,300 monthly lease, because RCC faces a $740,000 shortfall for the 1999-2000 fiscal year, said Tom Bradbeer, RCC dean of human resources and college advancement. The most recent formula from the Office of Community Colleges and the state Board of Education funds colleges based on the average enrollment of the previous three years. The problem for RCC is that the first of those three years does not include Jackson County enrollment, Bradbeer said. Legislators including Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland, have said that RCC is a unique community college because of its 1996 annexation of Jackson County and the rising enrollment from pent-up demand here. The issue of an appropriate funding level for RCC will be a subject of debate during the 1999 Legislature. RCC board members know about the parking problem, Bradbeer said, but felt that $51,600 was too much to pay to solve it. The board directed RCC staff members to study other options, including encouraging students to use the parking lot under the Interstate 5 viaduct off Eighth Street and to take Rogue Valley Transportation District buses instead of driving to classes. One possible incentive would be to write down RCC student permit numbers on the cars parked in the lot under the overpass for a periodic drawing for a gift certificate to an auto shop or a cup of espresso. Another idea would be to arrange a park-and-ride route with RVTD at the north and south ends of Riverside Avenue, Bradbeer said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA