ITHACA, N.Y. -- A patch of land once hidden among the trees on Cornell University's West Campus will become a 176-space parking lot this fall -- the culmination of years of efforts by Cornell administration to provide adequate parking for the West Campus Residential Initiative (WCRI), the future home of nearly 2,000 students and faculty members living and learning together when the project is finally completed.

The issue of the parking lot was finally resolved July 18 when Cornell President Hunter Rawlings signed an agreement with students and other protesters who had fought to save the lot, known Redbud Woods, from development.

"I think that the agreement is good for everyone concerned. I know that there are those that don't agree with it, and I understand that," Rawlings said as he stood alongside Danny Pearlstein '05, a member of the Redbud Woods Working Group, which includes students and community members. Rawlings also praised the Redbud supporters' dedication to their cause and their negotiations with Cornell administrators to end the six-week standoff.

Before negotiations began July 16, Pearlstein said: "We're fighting for the woods -- we're also fighting against a parking lot. When I started this in 2003, we said this will be the Waterloo of parking lots." Pearlstein, who lives near the site, said he has never owned a car. "We have seen the other way of life, and it's totally livable."

At issue in the dispute were not only dozens of trees on nearly three acres on the historic former Treman estate at University and Stewart avenues, but also the long-term concerns of parking demand and abatement and environmental sustainability at Cornell and in the surrounding community.

Following years of legal battles with the city of Ithaca, Cornell's plans for the lot faced further obstacles this year. A group of protesters first staged an April 28 sit-in in the president's office in Day Hall, then occupied the wooded lot starting June 6, the original start date for construction. With some of their number perched in trees and chained to the ground, the protesters attracted some national media attention and an around-the-clock police presence. 

More than 300 Cornell faculty members and a large number of local residents supported the protesters during the standoff, and a Redbud Woods Faculty Working Group issued a statement after the agreement was reached July 18.

On July 13, the Faculty Working Group presented Rawlings with an alternative proposal for Redbud Woods, asking Cornell administrators to hold off on construction for six months and form a special task force, whose recommendations would be honored by both sides. Mediator Paul Houston, senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of chemistry and chemical biology, said the proposal was not considered.

"There are obviously a large number of people who want to find a solution to cars on campus [and] are willing to work very hard on that," Houston said. "I think with the task force, it could have happened."

Also on July 13, workers installed an orange plastic fence around the woods. On the morning of Friday, July 15, Vice President for Administration Stephen Golding gave protesters notice to leave the site immediately. A construction fence then went up around the area, and Cornell Police issued more than 70 citations for trespassing in the following 36 hours. 

"On the whole they were very considerate and concerned with everyone's safety," protester Jeff Purcell '05 said.

After a long weekend of meetings held on the site, protesters reached an accord with the administration, represented by Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan H. Murphy and Dean of Students Kent Hubbell. Rawlings was the first to sign the agreement, followed by protester Lynne Feeley '06 and 24 other members of the protest group. 

"The agreement that we have by signing is not about the woods; it's about us leaving -- a very specific thing," said Norah Kates '07, one of the group's tree-sitters. "And with us having left the woods, it's in their hands now. They can still save the woods and do the right thing. It's sad that they didn't do that, and I consider that an unsatisfactory outcome."

In return for the protesters agreeing to leave the woods and allow construction to begin, the administration said signers' trespassing charges would be forgiven, and it guaranteed a set of initiatives, including free transit passes for all new students who forego parking permits. In addition, faculty committees, neighborhood outreach, a student referendum and other potentially far-reaching programs will focus on immediate and long-term parking and sustainability issues. 

Although these measures were among those requested and recommended by students and faculty, many were not pleased with the outcome.

"All the things the university agreed to were great -- with one three-acre exception," Purcell said. "Many of these steps would have made the parking lot obsolete -- but the administration was too impatient."

Said Redbud group member Patrick Young '06: "This is a sad day for the Ithaca community. This is the only thing we could do to keep our friends from being hurt."

Seven protesters, none of them members of the Redbud group, remained inside the fence after the deadline passed. One of them, saying he was on a hunger strike, chained himself to a pipe in the ground near the gate on University Avenue. The protester was removed at 3 a.m. on July 20. The following evening, the final three protesters remained in trees until university police convinced them to come down. 

The WCRI ultimately will house more than 1,800 students by 2010. Two of the complex's five residence buildings are complete: Alice H. Cook House opened in 2004 and Carl Becker House will open in August. The construction has removed more than 200 parking spaces, leaving today only 90 spots on West Campus, out of an overall campuswide inventory of more than 10,000 spaces.

David Lieb, spokesman for Cornell's Transportation and Mail Services department, said that the University Avenue lot is the first substantial parking construction project on Cornell-owned green space since the Schoellkopf Field parking garage was built in 1986. Prior to that, land was cleared in the 1960s for Cornell's A and B commuter lots. 

Before Asplundh Construction crews moved in on July 20 to clear trees on the West Campus lot, Cornell Department of Grounds workers removed and potted more than 50 redbud tree saplings for anyone who wanted to replant them. Several black walnut and other hardwood trees also were to be salvaged for use by local woodworkers, and other trees were marked to be spared. Portions of the site will be landscaped, with walkways including an original carriage path.