Facilities Planning Committee
September 22, 2006

Committee members: Bill Streeter, Jerry Greenfield, Steve McLaughlin, Doug DeVinny, Fred Ebeid, Rhonda Holland, Esther Wilson (for Don Cress), Peggy James

Staff Members: John Desch, Don Kolbe

Absent: Tyson Fettes, Don Cress

•  Bill Streeter introduced two new members: Fred Ebeid, Dean, School of Business and Technology, and Peggy James, who is representing the Committee on Academic Planning.

•  Union Construction Surge Needs. John Desch distributed a plan which outlines the offices in the Union which must vacate, and the planned date of their vacation. The plan also listed the planned new location for each office. John explained the document and answered questions. The Board of Regents meeting will be held on our campus in March, and the ground breaking for the Union expansion will take place at that time. During the time of the Union construction, GRNQ L103 will be cleared from Friday, evening and weekend courses to allow that space to be used for events that normally would have taken place in the Union .

•  Sciences Machine Shop (GRNQ D201) and Physics Department Storage Needs. John explained that because of the Greenquist remodeling project, the Physics Department will require some additional storage space. There are three different options – 1. Use a portion of GRNQ D201 (the sciences machine shop), and John Donalds would retain use of part of the space. It was suggested that when he needed additional equipment he could use woodworking equipment in Trenton Baylor's wood shop in the SMI, or equipment housed in Facilities Management. 2. Use GRNQ D206 – this is a room that Facilities Management currently uses to house furniture, and is also the location of a fire alarm panel. 3. Use MOLN D217 – the former “fish tank” room now used for surplus. John explained that the use of GRNQ D206 is problematic because of the location of the fire alarm panel, while the use of MOLN D217 is not desirable to the Physics staff since it is a considerable distance from their labs. The preferred approach is to use a portion of GRN D201. Doug DeVinny expressed concern with the idea of relocating certain pieces of equipment out of D201 to Trenton Baylor's shop, since it would involve the use of equipment currently used by Trenton and his students for fine furniture construction. It was suggested that John Donalds and Trenton Baylor meet to discuss this issue. John recommended that in the future John Donalds should maintain records regarding the actual usage of his equipment, since no documentation was available to defend the need for this shop. John also recommended an aggressive surplusing of loose chairs that are currently taking up a great deal of space in MOLN D218, since additional space will be needed to accommodate Union storage during the construction project. The committee concurred with these recommendations.

•  Union Construction Site Tree Relocations. Don Kolbe showed a diagram of the trees that must be moved due to the Union expansion. Thirty-three of these trees have been designated as worthy of relocation. Don also diagrammed where these trees would be relocated on the campus. These trees will be moved in March 2007. Other trees will be removed, but cannot be relocated due to size or quality. An environmental review has been done regarding the Union expansion to make sure that it complies with environmental regulations and concerns.

•  Furniture in the Hallways Policy. Bill Streeter explained that this policy will now go to Chancellor's Cabinet for their approval.

•  Project Updates. John reported that the materials for requesting lab mod proposals for the Summer of 2007 will go out next week. The Master Plan is completed and has been published. The Communication Arts addition program statement will go to DSF in October, and an architect will be hired in the spring to do planning. The GRNQ lab remodels will be started next spring. The process necessary to build another residence hall is currently under discussion.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 PM.

The meetings for the Fall semester of this committee will be held on October 20, November 17 and December 15, 2006, at 1:45 PM in WYLL 337

Cheryl Gundersen