Back in the day, Sarah Leiteritz had it good on Eye Street. One-lane. Narrow. Near the highway, but not always too loud. “NOT A THROUGH STREET,” the sign at the top of the hill near the tennis courts says, and that was true. It went nowhere. 

But when the Hinarr Hu Moulik (HHM) dorms opened several weeks ago, suddenly it went somewhere. Though there’s no direct access to the dorm’s parking lot, it’s simple to park on Eye and step around the bollards separating the street from university grounds. 

Currently, the open building is home to upwards of 500 students, with room for another 400 when the other building opens at the start of spring semester. The parking lot has 328 spaces. One week after the start of the fall semester, residents on Eye are already complaining that they’re feeling squeezed out. 

“There are way more cars here than there used to be,” said Leiteritz, 37 in an interview with the Outpost. She and her husband moved into a house on a short, dead-end street off of Eye in 2021. “There are, like, five times more cars now. They’re parking so close to the mailbox we can’t get up to it. Our neighbors can’t park in front of their own houses. Sometimes they can’t even park on the entire street.”

Arcata’s preferential parking system requires a parking permit for some of Eye, but it ends at the opposite end of the street from the dorms. In an (extremely informal) survey conducted by the Outpost, more than half of the vehicles parked along Eye St. and its side streets had Cal Poly Humboldt parking permit stickers from the 2024-2025 academic year or either the Fall ‘24 or Spring ‘25 semester.

Leiteritz feels fortunate that she and her husband have a driveway and a lawn to use as a parking spot, but the dwindling street parking isn’t just a simple inconvenience for them. Their son is autistic and sometimes requires the help of healthcare providers. They too have had issues finding places to park near their house, and Leiteritz worries they someday might not be able to park anywhere near.

She’s resorted to putting some traffic cones on the side of the street and putting up some signage claiming it’s “reserved,” which has kept a little space free for her when it’s needed. She doesn’t even want to consider the idea of another 400 students moving in just a quarter of a mile away in a few months. Leiteritz and her husband had been considering buying the house they moved into when it hits the market soon, but now they’re reconsidering it.

“It’s going to be so crazy,” Leiteritz said. “I don’t understand how they’re letting this happen.”

Representatives for Cal Poly Humboldt said in a written statement that they had anticipated this issue and were working on some solutions. They haven’t oversold parking permits for the lot, so students who want to bring a car will know if they’ll be able to consistently secure a space. If not, they can park on Humboldt’s campus proper.

There are plenty of alternative options to get around; a shuttle runs from the dorms to campus every 15 minutes, and they’re within a 20-minute walk of campus. There’s also a locked bicycle storage building with space for hundreds of bicycles on the premises.

“For students who don’t secure a parking permit at HHM, we strongly encourage considering whether bringing a car is necessary — this helps reduce overall parking demand and can also save students money,” the statement reads. “…All of these measures are designed to provide our students with clear information, enabling them to make informed decisions for their individual situations, while encouraging the use of our university-owned parking facilities, which allows us to manage capacity better. We recognize that parking isn’t always ideal, but we’re committed to collaborating with both our campus community and the City of Arcata to find solutions that work for everyone. We thank everyone for their patience as we continue to refine these systems.”

“It’s gotta be frustrating for them too,” Leiteritz said about the students living in the HHM dorms. “I’m sure they’re having to just, like, spend gas driving around up and down streets that aren’t the easiest to drive on trying to fit their car somewhere.”