SOUTH PORTLAND – Southern Maine Community College has appealed the denial of a proposed new parking plan to the South Portland City Council, arguing the city’s curb cut rules present an undue hardship.

But, at their meeting Monday night, councilors indicated they are inclined to stick with the assessment of the Public Works Department that the college’s parking plan for Surfsite Road does not comply with the city’s ordinances and that an exception is not warranted.

However, before making any final decision, the council has agreed to take a site walk on Sept. 8, after school is back in full swing.

In a memo to the council, City Manager Jim Gailey said the college lost 225 parking spaces it was leasing near Bug Light Park, and it’s looking to replace some of those lost parking spots closer to campus.

The proposal by the college is to create 19 new, perpendicular parking spots off Surfsite Road, near the Hutchinson Union Building Athletic Center.

The architect and engineering firm of Harriman Associates, which is designing the parking plan, said in its appeal letter to the council that even adding fewer than 20 new parking spots would help alleviate “the pressure on the available campus parking.”

On Monday, Frank Crabtree of Harriman told the council the college would not be proposing the parking plan if Surfsite was not a low volume of traffic road that gets little use.

He added, “The majority of students are commuters, and it’s better to have parking off road” for their use.

Under the city’s rules, curb cuts for any particular lot are limited to two, but the Hutchinson Center already has three curb cuts – two with access to Fort Road and one with access to Surfsite.

In addition, the city’s ordinances require any curb cut to be at least 200 feet from any intersection, but the parking proposal by Southern Maine Community College calls for a curb cut within 25 feet of Benjamin W. Pickett Street.

Another city rule states that curb cuts should be no more than 20 feet wide without a splitter island, but the college’s plan calls for one curb cut of 91 feet and one of 100 feet.

It was for these three reasons that Doug Howard, director of public works in South Portland, denied the necessary permits for the college to move forward with its parking plan.

In a memo to Gailey, Howard also said, “After reviewing the proposal, I felt the curb cut was too close to Pickett Street. I did not feel it would be safe for vehicles to be pulling in and out of the parking spots with traffic turning onto Surfsite. I also felt the road was too narrow to have vehicles backing out into traffic.”

During its review of the appeal Monday, only Councilor Maxine Beecher seemed to be in support of the college’s parking plan. She said, “We’re all aware of the parking situation at SMCC, and I see this as a positive, not a negative.”

But Councilor Tom Blake, who teaches at the college, said he did not support the parking plan for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that South Portland has curb-cut restrictions for a reason and he felt allowing the parking plan would “sacrifice safety.”

Blake also called Surfsite Road a “place of quiet and tranquility” that’s pedestrian friendly and adding more traffic to the street would threaten its character.

In all, he argued the addition of 19 new parking spots was not worth making an exception to the city’s ordinances. However, Blake also said he would be willing to reserve judgment and was the one who suggested the site walk.

Councilor Patti Smith agreed with Blake and said she would prefer to “move cautiously and with better understanding” especially considering the ongoing traffic issues “on this end of town.”

And Councilor Michael Pock said he was not in favor, calling the parking plan “an accident waiting to happen.”

Pock also agreed with Blake that instead of trying to accommodate more individual vehicles, Southern Maine Community College should be more focused on promoting car pooling, access to public transit and creating a more walkable campus.