Minutes of Meeting

CAMPUS SPACE AND FACILITIES COMMITTEE
Minutes of July 31, 2002

Memorial Union Rose Room

Committee Members present: John Elder, Berlin Nelson, Mike Tracy, Will Bleier, Vern Markey, Craig Schnell, Dick Rayl, Derald Bates, Justin Welch, David Rider (late arrival)

Committee Members absent: Darryl Booker, Gary Goreham, Student Senate Representative

Ex-Officio Members present: Kristi Wold-McCormick, Paul Gleye, Bruce Frantz, Don Hanson

Others present: Jay Leitch, Gina Haugen, Gary Naurm

Dick Rayl, chairperson, called the meeting to order. He indicated that there would be only one item of business discussed at this special meeting - the site location recommendation to the President for the College of Business building. Three sites were chosen from the Site Evaluation Report prepared by T. L. Stroh Architects and forwarded to the full committee from the Planning Subcommittee after their meeting on July 24, 2002. The sites were:

Site 1 Corner of 12th Avenue North and Bolley Drive (current Art Studio Quonsets location)
Site 4 Corner southwest of 18th Street South and Centennial Boulevard (current horticulture plots location)
Site 7 South of Churchill Hall, north of Alba Bales House (Churchill/Memorial Union mall location)

Vice President Rayl then turned the meeting over to Jay Leitch, Dean of the College of Business, for his presentation of the recommended sites.

College of Business Building Site Location Presentation (Jay Leitch)
Dean Leitch distributed a timeline of the project along with a site plan of the building and adjacent area proposed for Site 4. He stated that the project process began in December 2000 with the AACSB (international association that accredits business schools) indicating that the College of Business accreditation would be contingent upon the progress of a new facility for the college by January 2004. The ND Legislature approved the building in Spring 2001, and discussions began at this time for an appropriate location. The building design committee, which included faculty, staff and students, was organized in September 2001 with a 24-month charge. Discussions with the President in Spring 2002 led to a target groundbreaking date of Spring 2005 with occupation of the building slated for Fall 2006. TL Stroh Architects (teaming with AndersonMasonDale from Denver, a nationally recognized firm with business school building experience) was hired as the project architect in June 2002 and was given the task of evaluating the seven potential sites listed in the Site Evaluation Report. The report was delivered to the building committee in July 2002, with the subsequent recommendation by the Planning Subcommittee of sites 1, 4, and 7 following shortly thereafter.

Dean Leitch then outlined several points for each site location:

Site 1: "The Art Quonsets"
§ Constrained by railroad tracks, 12th Avenue, and Auxiliary Enterprises building
§ Insufficient room for convenient parking or expansion
§ Small space severely limits building design for "prominence" - A corporate headquarters-type of building

Site 7: "Churchill Mall"
§ Campus has other plans for this area - Students may disagree with building being constructed in this area of greenspace.
§ Constraints are parking, one-way street access, and visibility to attain "prominence" - "Prominence" main building criteria from President and from building committee
§ On a residential edge of campus about as far from existing center of campus as Site 4 - Center of campus will move west as campus expands in that direction, placing this site even farther from the center.

Site 4: "Horticulture Gardens"
§ Highly prominent - High volume of traffic on 18th Street, 12th Avenue N. (including viaduct), and also at end of Centennial Boulevard on campus.
§ No existing buildings to remove/replace - May cause further delay if legislative approval needed for removal of existing building(s)
§ Space allows architects to design appropriate structure
§ Parking and access are not a problem
§ The 15+ classrooms (with parking) would facilitate growing numbers of non-traditional students in an "evening college" - Aid in development of "evening college" - 80 sections of business classes currently held in various classrooms on campus would move to new building, thus increasing availability of much needed classroom space.
§ Future skyway connection to Wellness Center and planned new addition
§ Engagement with business community would be enhanced due to convenient parking and access - Would bring more business people to campus to interact with students, benefiting them through association. - Capacity to host future business community gatherings on campus to encourage engagement with the community, such as:

Chamber of Commerce
Business After Hours
CFO Roundtable
CIO Roundtable
GNDA Board
Executive Education

§ Located at the virtual "leading edge" of campus with ties to main campus, the state, and the Research Park - Building will be "in front" with economic development as per the Round Table
§ Incorporate enhanced horticulture plots/arboretum into new building landscape so both will benefit, including the Centennial Locust tree (as per the President)

VP Rayl then opened the floor for questions and comments by the committee members:
§ Site 3 and 4 were rated equally in the Site Evaluation Report-why wasn't Site 3 then a recommendation? (Schnell)
- PP received draft copy of an air modeling report indicating a problem with odors at that site. Location there would also infringe on the current historical research plots.

§ If the College of Business will be developing an "evening college", will other areas also be encouraged to do so and will the classrooms in the new building be available for their use? (Rayl)
- College of Business will have first priority in classroom scheduling, but it is a part of the campus and its classroom usage. Traditional MBA program is currently offered weekdays after 5 p.m. and Executive MBA is being discussed for weekends.

§ Will you please explain the "three front doors" that you have referred to? (Rayl)
- 1) The front door to all other disciplines (East). One-third of the students taking business classes are non-business majors from the 80+ majors on campus.
- 2) The front door to the Research Park (North). Discussion has occurred concerning the incubator building and its product(s). Product(s) will need a marketing program, etc., which the College of Business could provide.
- 3) The front door to the remainder of North Dakota (West). NDSU is North Dakota's land grant institution and a leader in economic development in the state.

VP Rayl then indicated that approximately 90% of students are traditional students, and that the numbers for high school graduates in the area will be dropping in the future. NDSU will need to look at the non-traditional college student in the community for enrollment, so Dean Leitch specified a fourth front door (South) - to the community for access by the non-traditional students.

Berlin Nelson, representative for Agriculture, then requested the floor. He indicated that Agriculture is not happy with the recommendation of Site 4 because it is the current location of the horticulture plots. Ag has no objections with the points raised by the College of Business, but the issue of where the horticulture plots would be relocated and the loss of research material are major concerns. The plant relocation area would need protection from the elements that the current shelterbelt at Site 4 now provides. Along with that, Ag is concerned with the westward expansion of the campus onto the agricultural sites, although it is aware of the necessity to move in that direction. He also indicated that there are plans for expansion in the area around the Animal Nutrition and Physiology Center, which could possibly impact the College of Business building if built on Site 3 or 4.

Vice President Craig Schnell then asked if he could reply to some of Dr. Nelson's points. Conversations with Al Schneiter and Ken Grafton had occurred since the Planning Subcommittee meeting. It was agreed to preserve the Centennial Locust tree, and the President had suggested that the horticulture materials now located in the plots be used to beautify other areas of campus. The expansion would give them greater visibility and an investment in/with the arboretum. Some of the trees in the shelterbelt area could be moved or replanted, also. With the development of 18th Street, some of the plots had been claimed at that time, too, but VP Rayl found land in other areas of the state to help replace what was used for the street.

Having noted the concerns, VP Rayl asked the committee how they wanted to proceed-1) forward all three recommendations to the President; 2) recommend only one site; 3) forward all three sites in priority order? When questioned if the President has the ultimate decision concerning the site, he indicated that the CSFC is a University Senate committee charged with forwarding recommendations to the President, along with any necessary input.

Questions then arose why Site 2 was not rated higher by the committee/report and also why Site 7 was rated higher than Site 2. It was surmised that it was because Site 2 is the primary parking area for commuter students and utilizing it would displace hundreds of vehicles. Developing a new parking area for these vehicles and the associated operating costs would be expensive. The area also would not accommodate both the new building and the necessary parking spaces associated with it.

VP Rayl then called for a motion on how to proceed. Will Bleier moved, Mike Tracy seconded, to delete Site 7 - Churchill Mall - from the list of recommendations. Those voting members present voted aye. Motion carried.

Noting that there was no discussion in favor of Site 1 during this meeting, John Elder made a motion, seconded by Vern Markey, to remove Site 1 - the Art Quonsets - from the list of recommendations. A vote was called with seven ayes and one nay being indicated by voting members present. Motion carried.

Mike Tracy then moved, seconded by Will Bleier, to carry Site 4 forward to the President as the recommended site for the College of Business building. A vote was called for with seven ayes and one nay being indicated by voting members present. Motion carried.

VP Rayl then asked if there was any other business needing to be discussed. Paul Gleye requested the floor. He reiterated two points what he had proposed at the Planning Subcommittee meeting:

1) That the upper administration comprehensively review and address the Campus Master Plan especially to include the future expansion of the campus. It is unfortunate (and difficult) to continue the competition between colleges/departments for available areas. The long-term plan for the campus should consider the "fit" of the request for the area, including Ag's. Recommendations made by the CSFC have a continuing effect on the campus, thus the need for administration's comprehensive review.

2) That the VP for Business and Finance commission the same group that developed the Site Evaluation Report for a similar type of analysis of available campus sites. It could recommend the different types of uses suitable for each area as per its "fit".

VP Rayl gave the committee members the background of the development of the Campus Master Plan over the past eight years. The Campus Master plan has been redone every six years with updates every two years to coincide with the biennial budget process. He indicated that he would forward the committee's recommendations to the President along with the request to engage a firm to evaluate the plan before the next scheduled redo in 2006.

With that, Dean Leitch thanked the committee members for their time and consideration, and the meeting was adjourned at 11:20 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Gina Haugen
Assistant to the Vice President for Business and Finance

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