COLLEGE PARKING A PROBLEM; MOORPARK RESIDENTS SEEKING RESTRICTIONS.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

With about 12,000 students enrolled, Moorpark College has 3,500 parking spaces.

First, students check the largest and most convenient lot just north of the college's main buildings.

If there are no parking spaces left there, they try paved lots to the east.

``If you arrive on campus any time after the first morning classes it can get pretty hectic, but we usually find parking in the far lot,'' says Manuel Zamudio, a 20-year-old student who car pools to Moorpark College from Agoura with his friend, Craig Hopkins. ``If not, you have to park in the dirt.''

And Moorpark College students dread parking their clean cars in the ample dirt lot to the campus' west. For that reason, especially early in the semester when the college is crowded with students signing up for classes, students sometimes park on residential streets in neighborhoods just north of campus.

College officials maintain that only 5,000 to 6,000 students are on campus even during peak enrollment periods and that parking on residential streets is only a problem during those first few weeks of the semester.

Nearby residents think otherwise.

Homeowners living in areas neighboring the college have filed three separate petitions with the city asking for stronger parking restrictions and enforcement to discourage students from parking in their neighborhoods.

The City Council is scheduled to consider a resolution to the problem Wednesday night.

Currently, only streets closest to the college bear signs warning ``One Hour Parking - Permits Exempt.''

One resident who lives west of the signed area has submitted a petition requesting that those signs go up on all streets west of University Drive. A second petition organized by Debbie Bronson requests signs reading ``Resident Parking Only - No Permits.''

A third petition written by Mark Ayoub suggested a similar solution.

But city officials say that such a law would be impossible to enforce.

The city proposes signs reading ``No Parking, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, City Permits Exempt, Tow Away Zone.''

The new signs would include harsher penalties and would be easier to enforce. For example, with the current one-hour restriction, an officer has to first mark a car's tires and then return to ticket the vehicle. Under the new signs, a citation can be written immediately. The ``Tow Away'' also creates a powerful incentive for not parking on the residential streets, city officials believe.

And though the problem may not be that serious now, residents and city officials are concerned about enrollment growth at the college. At 12,500 students and 600 full- and part-time faculty now, enrollment is expected to jump to 15,000 during the next decade.

The college also has plans to build more lots, but the funding for those lots is uncertain, and as enrollment grows, new lots may not meet a growing demand for parking spaces.

Students don't seem perturbed by the possibility of the new rules, perhaps an indication that stricter rules and enforcement will easily modify parking behavior.

``I've parked on the street, but only during the first week or so when things are really busy around campus,'' said business major Darrell Hanover. ``But most people can afford parking stickers, and if they start ticketing cars, I bet even the dirt lot starts to look good.''

If the resolution passes Wednesday night, the signs could go up - and ticketing and towing could begin - before the semester's end.