Space & Remodeling Committee

The Space and Remodeling Committee met April 21 at 132 WARF. First the committee cleared up remaining business from their December 16, 2010 meeting. The committee heard from Faramarz Vakili who outlined several challenges facing physical plant this spring and into the summer. First and foremost, there is an enhanced load resulting from several large projects coming online at once. Compounding those difficulties is lost time due to employee participation in capitol demonstrations as well as several recent and upcoming retirements, many of which were unexpected and have left positions unfilled. After also approving the December minutes, the committee moved on to new business.

First on the agenda was the reallocation of space vacated by admissions and VIP in the Red Gym. The committee approved a plan which, among other things, moves the Center for Leadership and Involvement from its current location on the 2nd floor into space vacated by admissions on the 3rd floor of the building. OMAI/First Wave will take the majority of the 2nd floor space that will free up as a result. Joining CFLI on the 3rd floor is URS and IAP. These groups will also take a portion of the 1st floor space vacated by VIP and used that as a “reception” area to determine where students should be directed for effective service. Ultimately, the plan is designed to increase synergies in the space while also reserving some of the open areas for projected future growth needs.

Other space requests and assignments included an update on the effort to move several university groups off leases and back onto campus, a move that should save the university between $300,000 and $500,000. These movements are to be done in tandem with efforts to improve the use of Bascom and Ingraham Halls.

The other major piece of business was the development of the We Trade program as a pilot under the direction of the soon-to-be-formed Office of Sustainability. The SRPC will oversee the program, however individual trades of space will be negotiated upon simply by the parties involved. Ultimately the goal is to great enhance the overall use of university space and even more so to improve the allocation of utility resources among the various colleges and other university units.

The committee finished the meeting by confirming the 2011-2012 representative to the Campus Planning Committee.

The next meeting is scheduled for May 12 but with nothing yet on the agenda, the consensus was that this meeting would most likely be cancelled.
- Max Sternberg (posted by SGC PA)