March 20 Commander's Action Line

What is the base policy for reserved parking? It doesn’t seem like the base has a standardized method of assigning parking spaces.

Thank you for your question. This is very timely because the 27th Special Operations Mission Support Group commander signed a revised base parking plan in February, 2009. This plan standardizes the allowable reserved parking signs on base with the Air Force Instruction on Air Force Motor Vehicle Traffic Supervision, and ultimately reduces the current number of reserved parking spaces on Cannon.

Air Force Instruction 31-204, section 4.8, states, “Installation commanders determine reserved parking policy for their installations. Number of available spaces, facility design and layout, traffic flow, and number of vehicles using facilities will help determine the number and location of reserved parking spaces.”

Unified Facilities Criteria 3-120-01, Air Force Sign Standards, paragraph 6.14.1 states, “Limit the number of parking spaces reserved for individuals such as the base commander or senior NCO, or groups such as general officers. Reserve parking areas for unit personnel only if it is necessary to ensure that parking is available in the immediate area.

The base has interpreted this to mean only the wing commander, vice wing commander, director of staff, command chief, group commanders, vice group commanders, group chiefs, staff agency chiefs, squadron commanders, and chief enlisted managers can have designated parking spaces on base. Anything more than that will require a waiver be processed through the Traffic Coordination Safety Group, which is managed by the 27th Special Operations Security Forces Squadron.

I’m happy to tell you we’ve already made some progress in enforcing the base parking plan. Both the 27th Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron and 27 SOSFS have done a full sweep of the parking spots in front of their buildings. The rest of the base will soon follow.

Again, thank you for you Commander’s Action Line input. I encourage all who have comments and suggestions about ways to improve the base to let me know.