Campus officials say they are willing to address students’ concerns about the proposed campus remodeling for Old Main Plaza.Some residents of Hull Hall are concerned with the university’s new construction plan. The plan, still in its early design phases, would take out parts of Lee Boulevard and Tracy Drive to allow for more pedestrian traffic. The area in front of Hull Hall would not have any parking spaces under the design.
Kimberly Tullos, a junior in business administration and Hull Hall resident, voiced her fears about the plan at a Student Association meeting last week.
Tullos said 204 parking spaces will be lost to the redesign, including 82 spots directly in front of Hull.
“We don’t want a two-way thoroughfare racing in front of our home,” she said.
She said the plan will make it difficult for Hull residents to even unload their groceries.
“We don’t want to haul groceries half a mile only to have to turn around and go back for a second load,” Tullos said.
She said that a compromise would be for the university to allow a loading zone directly in front of Hull, but that parking problems will still exist for many living in the residence halls.
“The problem of parking will not stay confined to Hull,” she said. “Everyone in the North Zone is in danger of having their parking choices severely limited.”
Jeremy Sherman, a senior in landscape architecture and Hull resident, said he and other Hull residents have spoken to the SA Senate and MSU chief of staff Michael McGrevey about parking options for Hull.
“We’ve just been trying to talk to different administration people to get our concerns out there,” he said. “For the most part they are actually listening. Even though at the beginning it seemed they weren’t, they really seem to be taking our concerns into account.”
SA President J.R. Love said he has been meeting with the administration to try to address student concerns. He said he spoke to McGrevey, facilities management director Jim Jones, , and campus architect Tim Muzzi to suggest changes that will ease the Hull residents’ worries.
“There’s been a lot of suggested changes to the design that came out,” Love said. “It’s not set in stone.”
Love said while he thinks the Old Main Plaza plan will make the campus look “much more aesthetically pleasing,” the reduction in parking spaces concerns him.
“I’ve suggested we look into parking in the interior of the plan, meaning near the chapel area,” he said.
Jones said the Old Main Plaza design is still in its early stages.
“The drawing that you see on the [MSU] Web site, it’s a master plan; it’s simply a picture of what we would like to go forward and design,” he said. “People have seen the pictures, and they have jumped to conclusions regarding what’s going to happen.”
Jones said he wants to take everyone’s suggestions into account.
“You have to take into consideration all aspects: parking, traffic, safety, aesthetics, the goal of the campus master plan, which is to become a pedestrian-friendly campus,” he said. “People are providing us with valuable information concerning the design of the project – faculty, staff and students.”
He said while future designs of the plan will allow for more parking, one of the goals is still to keep traffic further from the center of campus.
“We’re developing the plan to allow for as much parking as we can while being consistent with those goals of improving the look of the area and making it a pedestrian-friendly campus of the future,” Jones said.
He said within a few weeks there will be a revised picture of the proposed campus renovations. He said construction should begin before summer, with the already-in-progress areas of McCool Hall and the Colvard Union the first areas to be renovated.
Jones said students should voice their concerns to their SA representatives. They can also e-mail suggestions to [email protected].