Just as students were getting comfortable with the new Lowman Student Center Mall Area, JJR, Inc. began the planning stages of a new master plan that will outline all future construction projects.
The expiring master plan, Y2K + 10, was written by Ralph D. Spencer Sr. as an extension of his original plan from 1982.
JJR, Inc. hosted two forums last Wednesday to gauge student reaction - an important part of the planning process according to the company.
"We're here mainly because we do campus planning all over the country - we're specialists. We're at Sam Houston because of the amount of growth four years ago. [There was] a request for companies like us to come up with a master plan," Campus Planner Cory Gallo said.
Campus Planner Timothy Rorvig said the primary planning procedure, which involves input from the University, is "really telling to us."
JJR, Inc. will be developing the plan over time, gathering information useful to its development. Rorvig said the process lasts between eight and ten months.
One concern for the planning is the current student population. In 2000, the enrollment totaled approximately 12,300 students. It has risen to over 16,000 students this year alone. According to University President James F. Gaertner, the recent sharp rise in population has made a revised master plan necessary before the standing one ends.
"We've grown so rapidly," he said. "I think [population] is going to go up. We're in this corridor here, not too far out of Houston, and Houston's growing rapidly. We're poised to take advantage of it."
The process of developing the new master plan has thus far not presented any new or major discontent among the student population.
"Campuses are like small cities," Gallo said. "You'll have all the issues of parking, traffic and development."
Gaertner said there is always a concern about academic space, parking and residential halls. "We're too early in the process to really be definitive," he said.
Spencer's original plan called for, among other improvements, seven parking garages, renovations and additions to existing buildings, north and south dorms, a new recreational building and street modifications.
So far, completed construction projects under the old Master Plan are the campus Mall Area, baseball/softball complexes, the bell tower, Bearkat Village, Raven Village, Sam Houston Village, the Strength and Fitness Center and Health and Kinesiology Center, the Visitors/Alumni Center, South Paw and a parking garage. Projects in the works are Academic BuildingV and the Bearkat camp, with plans for a Performing Arts Center and another dining facility.
Spencer said that master plans are influential, but they are not set-in-stone.
"Master Plans are not tattoos," he said. "They wash off with hot or cold water. They are at risk in a room with second guessers and insensitive souls. Mid-course corrections are to be expected and primary goals should be fixed in purpose."
In addition to the student population boom, parking on campus is another concern that will be addressed. According to Spencer's Y2K + 10, four parking structures should be situated on Avenue H, Avenue I, 17th street and 20th street.
"The issue that you run into with parking garages is cost. It's very expensive to build a parking space in a structure," Gaertner said. "If that were not an issue, we'd have parking garages all over the place. The parking garage we built three years ago has been successful, but not overwhelmingly successful. If people were busting to get into that, we would be building other structures and they would be higher on the priority list."
One concern voiced at the open house last Wednesday was campus compliance with the American Disabilities Act. According to President Gaertner, the Sam Houston follows the requirements, despite complaints.
"It should be a concern," he said. "It should be a major concern. We want to be sure we address the issues. The thing that complicates it is the hilliness of the campus. A lot of campuses do not have these beautiful hills and because we have them it exacerbates the problem."
Construction and renovations suggested by the Master Plans are funded by several different ways. Besides HEAF funds, which "fund permanent capital improvements for most public universities" (according to the Higher Education Assistance Fund Purchasing Guidelines), and Tuition Bonds, the school uses some "savings" to finance projects. Some projects eventually pay for themselves, for instance dormitories and dining halls from the generated revenue.
Keeping the campus up-to-date and coping with the ever-changing student population drives the University to plan construction projects carefully.
"A lot of people that preceded us were very conscientious about it," Gaertner said. "Now it's our turn. It's our turn so that people who come here ten or twenty years from now see this campus and say 'what a fine campus, what a well thought-out campus'."
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