6B
Friday, September 29, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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University of Kansas - Lawrence Campus
WHAT IS PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING?
The Campus Plan is a 20-year planning document that provides guidelines for the physical development of the KU Lawrence campus, and addresses ideas and concerns within a long-term context. The plan also raises issues of concern for the next century. The university last adopted a planning document in 1973.
SCOPE OF THE PLAN
The Lawrence campus includes more than 120 major campus buildings on about 930 contiguous acres surrounded by the city of Lawrence. The campus population includes about 25,000 students and more than 8,000 faculty and staff members and student employees.
Traffic on campus includes 30,000 vehicles daily entering and leaving through major campus access points. Nearly 600 bus trips take place along Jayhawk Boulevard every day. About 9,500 parking spaces are on the main campus and 2,000 on west campus. During peak occupancy, about 65 percent of the spaces are filled.
KEYPOINTS
The eight key points that guided the planning process
- Provide a statement for the future quality and character of the physical environment of the campus.
- Document a plan for the visual quality of the campus, including landscape enhancement and overall campus beautification.
- Involve campus constituencies in the formulation of a campus plan.
- Address long-term concerns about the safety and physical design of the campus.
- Establish campus development guidelines for future land use and physical-development patterns.
- Identify sites for future construction and adjacent areas of possible growth.
- *Integrate transportation needs with the physical layout and use of the campus.
- Identify needs for facilities from academic, research, student service and institutional support programs.
ASSUMPTIONS
A series of assumptions were formed to help guide planning. Among them:
- Enrollment gains will be modest.
- Capital development funds from the state will be limited, resulting in more renovation than new construction.
- Information technology and supporting infrastructure will be major concerns.
*Strong efforts will be made to continue to protect the health, safety and environment of the campus.
1995CAMPUSPLAN COMMITTEE
The first steps toward developing the campus master plan began in 1993 with the appointment of a 28-member Physical Development Planning Task Force and included support from campus professional staff members and outside consultants.
The task force formed subcommittees to focus on specific areas of campus. The topics for subcommittee review were
- Building and Building Sites
- University/Lawrence
- Transportation
- Community Relations
- Student Profile and Student Services
- Services
- Environmental Issues
- Utility and Infrastructure
Each subcommittee reviewed the issues and completed rationale, goal and objective statements. For example, the subcommittee studying student services first conducted a mail survey of a random, representative sample of 1,000 students.
Then committee members held focus groups with a broad range of student organizations. The subcommittee concerned with community relations held meetings with neighborhood groups as well as with the Lawrence city manager and his staff.
INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES AND PROPOSED PROJECTS
INFRASTRUCTURE
LAND USE, ACCESS & IMAGE
The basic planning tools of land use, access and image are the building blocks of a campus environment.
Potential building sites are limited in the academic core- a 140-acre area crossed by Jayhawk Boulevard. The loss of green space is one result of a significant increase in the building density in the academic core over the past 20 years.
It is now possible to identify areas of campus where building densities leave little open and virtually no highquality green space. For a campus that has invested heavily in the quality of its built and landscaped features, preserving these important elements of open and green space becomes one of the factors in determining campus quality.
Underlying these concerns is the overall condition of the infrastructure -the condition of the buildings, electrical and water distribution and mandated improvements across the campus. There are important infrastructure needs that must be a priority for capital development funds.
JAYHAWK BOULEVARD
Though Jayhawk Boulevard has changed little in the past 20 years, the intense use of the area by the campus population and visitors is taking a toll.
With the opening of Budig Hall in 1996, the concentration of class hour day activities in this area of campus will be several times that around the old Hoch Auditorium.
Concerns about access, congestion and pedestrian safety must be addressed.
Architectural rendering of midhill pedestrian route behind Wescoe Hall
MAJORPROPOSALS
There are eight major proposals for campus physical development in the campus plan.
1. Preserve the character of campus based on established land-use patterns, addressing open space, green space and traditional areas and accommodating high-quality pedestrian environments.
The central campus is in transition toward an urban quality and density, a shift from the open green spaces of the past.
proposed for this problem is the creation of a storage facility reasonably close to campus.
A key component of future development in this area will be a midhill route starting at Watson Library and continuing past Malot Hall and Anschutz Science Library to 15th Street. This route of enhanced landscape will connect the eastern and western portions of the central campus.
To keep the campus attractive, a landscape-management plan should be instituted.
Architectural rendering of Jayhawk Boulevard
4. Remove marginal facilities to create buildable sites and open space.
A number of structures should be considered for demolition or removal because of the condition o' the structures themselves or poor location of the structures or both. Buildings listed include Lindley Annex, Blake Annex, Bailey Annex, Military
2. Emphasize Jayhawk Boulevard as the significant, traditional element of the campus.
When Budig Hall opens in 1996, a significant change in pedestrian patterns will result. As many as 2,000 students in a class change will need access to the building.
- Eliminate the congestion caused by personal vehicles, parking and two-way traffic and establish the boulevard as a transit mall.
- The key components to this proposal are to
- Reduce the overall width of the boulevard to gain pedestrian space, bus stop space and green space.
- Commit a significant portion of the boulevard to bicycle use.
- Establish a consistent landscape appearance.
To institute these changes, Jayhawk Boulevard would become a one-way street from west to east, and parking would be eliminated. Access to the boulevard would be tightened to eliminate unnecessary traffic
To institute these changes.
During the class day, the boulevard would be restricted to transit and service vehicles.
3. Plan and manage resources, including buildings and existing as well as proposed space.
Planning and managing would be based on a well-developed policy, resulting in appropriate allocation and assignment of space based on quality and program needs.
Proposals for new facilities should take into account the quantity and quality of existing space and locations for programs. The intent is to keep related academic and research programs reasonably close to one other.
One immediate concern coming from interviews for this planning process was the need for additional storage space. Among solutions
Science Annex, facilities operations storage and shop facilities, and the former sorority house and the temporary trailers north of the Kansas Union used by the Division of Continuing Education.
5. Develop a program for access to the academic core that integrates parking management and a shuttle or park-and-ride system.
With a limit on the number of potential building sites on campus, future parking sites also are expected to become more restricted.
To alleviate this situation, a parking-management system should be considered that includes graduated system for parking fees and a shuttle system to move people from remote sites to the academic core. A parking facility north of the Kansas Union is recommended.
6. Make a priority of the development, repair and replacement of infrastructure for the next century.
Electrical distribution and information-telecommunications networking will need to be a priority. The ongoing improvement and replacement of deficient systems for basic services such as steam distribution, power plant upgrades and mandated improvements are not glamorous, but necessary.
7. Establish a plan and priorities for land acquisition.
A policy and plan for acquiring additional property for campus growth should look beyond the next
Comments may be sent to the Physical Development Planning Task Force by campus mail to Thomas V. Waechter, facilities management planning coordinator, or by e-mail at waechter@falcon.cc.ukans.edu.
The planning document is available on the World Wide Web. The address is http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~waechter/index.html Copies also are on reserve in the KU libraries.
20 years to the projected 30- to 50-year growth. Consideration should be given to remote sites for ancillary support activities, such as Central Receiving, and for athletic facilities.
8. Develop a design typology and identification of major and minor campus entries and a major campus gateway at 15th and Iowa streets.
The report proposes the establishment of a major campus gateway to visually consolidate central and west campus entries. It also addresses the need for an established hierarchy of major and minor entries and directional signage.
PUBLIC INPUT NEEDED
"This is a draft planning document that addresses the long-term needs," said Edward L. Meyen, executive vice chancellor for the Lawrence campus. "While we are committed to certain principles, we want to make clear that this document is still evolving, which is why we are seeking broad campus input at this point."
Meyen praised the efforts of those who worked on the process since it began in March 1993. He said, "The task force and six subcommittees have done an excellent job in framing principles and proposals which reflect the views and ideas received to date."
FACULTY AND STAFF
PRESENTATION SCHEDULE
4:30 p.m. Oct.
Apollo Room, Nichols Hall
Open Forums
7:30 p.m. Oct. 3
Apollo Room, Nichols Hall
Unclassified Professional Staff Association 12:15 Oct.4 Frontier Room, Burge Union
Classified Senate
11 a.m. Oct. 11
Jayhawk Room, Kansas Union
STUDENTS
President's Roundtable
7:30 p.m. Oct. 10
Frontier Room, Burge Union
Open Forums
7:30 p.m. Oct. 17
Alderson Auditorium,
Kansas Union
4:30 p.m. Oct. 24
Kansas Room, Kansas Union
DISPLAYS
MAPS, RENDERINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Kansas Union display case Sept. 26 to Oct. 23
Marvin Hall Jury Room Sept.26 to Oct.6
Kansas Union Gallery Oct.23 to Oct.28