This week the South Portland City Council officially denied an appeal from Southern Maine Community College to allow parking on Surfsite Road.

The Public Works Department initially refused to approve the needed permits arguing the parking plan did not comply with the city’s ordinances and that an exception was not warranted.

The council took a site walk two weeks ago and following the site walk a majority of councilors indicated they were not inclined to grant the appeal.

At the time, councilors said they could not support the new parking on Surfsite because it was too piecemeal a solution to the college’s larger problem of providing enough parking.

In addition, they were concerned about bringing traffic to a quiet, little-used street, the loss of open space and an increase in the amount of impervious surface on the seaside campus.

At the most recent council meeting, Councilor Tom Blake said the college must think outside of the box and create “more of a master plan” in terms of its parking needs.

“Cutting out trees and grass to fix 6 percent of your problem is not the answer,” he said. “I do appreciate the problem, but the value gained is not worth the consequences.”

– Kate Irish Collins