University makes changes to campus plan, will build underground garage

The announcement of the change was included in a presentation on revisions to the Campus Plan given by Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee ’69 at Monday’s meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC). The Campus Plan is a comprehensive outline of University construction projects to be completed through 2016.

“As we began to discuss these plans with local officials, the community and neighbors in the area, we began to rethink some of this planning,” Durkee explained.

The Campus Plan originally called for the Data Center, home to the Office of Information Technology, to be moved from Prospect Avenue to a new building that would replace Lot 16. Under the revised proposal, the Center will instead be moved to the Forrestal Campus, allowing the University to shrink the new garage from 1,740 parking spaces to 1,340 as it moves underground, Durkee said.

The compromise plan includes a two-level parking garage below new artificial-turf playing fields, Durkee said, adding that residents will not be able to see the garage from the intersection of Western Way and FitzRandolph Road.

Residents have been told about the revisions and seem “very pleased” that the project has been scaled down and moved underground and that it now includes efforts to limit vehicular traffic on neighborhood streets, Durkee explained.

“I think they appreciate all the work we’ve done to try and respond to the concerns they had,” he said, adding that he hopes to bring the new plans before the planning board during this academic year.

Though the University has responded to community opposition to the new parking structure, there has been no movement on the University’s current plan to move the Dinky Station 460 feet to the south of its current location to accommodate the construction of the new Arts and Transit Neighborhood.

While the University still plans to move the station, Durkee outlined other University initiatives to address community concerns.

“There are people who are concerned about the additional distance,” Durkee said. “One of the ways we’ve tried to address that concern is by making sure there are shuttle alternatives for people who would prefer to ride there rather than walk there.”

Durkee also responded to complaints that the new construction would lead to traffic congestion at University Place and Alexander Street, explaining that the University will be able to expand its presence in the southwest corner of campus without significantly increasing vehicular traffic by moving offices out of the area and creating a transportation management plan.

University Architect Ron McCoy GS ’80 presented some of the initial designs for the buildings that will make up the $300 million arts complex. Plans for the complex include space for a satellite art museum, BlackBox theater, dance theater and performance hall, McCoy said.

Construction for the neighborhood, however, may not begin for quite some time, Durkee said, citing zoning issues stemming from the use of both Borough and Township land for the Arts Neighborhood.

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“I don’t know if we are talking a few months or many months before we can actually get to the point of submitting designs and going through the approval process,” he said.

Bridge-year program

The University has green-lighted the pilot for its bridge-year program, President Tilghman said during the meeting. The pilot, which will have 20 students, will begin next fall and last for the entirety of the academic year. The students will return to campus the following fall and become members of that year’s incoming freshman class.

“The bridge-year program is going to offer admitted freshmen the opportunity to defer their matriculation to Princeton for one year and to instead spend the year outside their country of origin engaged in public service,” Tilghman said.

Tilghman said she hopes the program will create a group of students who are “internationally oriented” and give them the opportunity to “embrace service as a part of their Princeton education.”

The University will ask interested incoming freshmen to submit an essay, and the process will likely involve an in-person or telephone interview, she said.

To keep students connected to campus, the University will create a bridge year office that will include a staff member who will visit each student two or three times while they are abroad, Tilghman explained, adding that she hopes that alumni around the globe will serve as an additional network of mentors.

The program may eventually include up to 100 incoming freshmen every year, Tilghman noted.

After the meeting, Tilghman said officials estimate the pilot program of 20 students will cost between $20,000 and $25,000 per person, of which students would only be asked to pay $5,000 if they are able to do so.

USG concerns

Despite years of lobbying by the USG to extend hours for study spaces in libraries around campus, Tilghman said that at the moment the University has no plans to discuss any extensions.

Executive Vice President Mark Burstein added that the administration is still reviewing feedback from a survey on the matter conducted by the USG and the University last spring.

“We have a lot of spaces that are open 24 hours,” he explained. “We have other spaces that are limited in their times of study. Sometime this fall, we will have an idea of what we can do with the USG and other students’ groups. There are many factors and expenses to consider.”

In an e-mail after the meeting, USG president Josh Weinstein ’09 said that given the long history of USG efforts to expand hours at Firestone, he had hoped the hours would have been changed already and said it would be “disappointing” if hours were not extended by midterm week.

“At this juncture, it should no longer be a question as to whether or not the hours should be extended,” he said. “There needs to be a response to vocal, quantifiable student demand and need.”

Weinstein asked at the meeting whether a renovation or expansion of Dillon Gym was included in the Campus Plan. Burstein replied that there is $10 million set aside in the capital plan for an upgrade of the existing gym, and that were the gym to be expanded, it would be extended into the pit between Dillon and Whitman College.

“For sure, the huge improvements over the summer are much appreciated and incredibly important,” Weinstein said in the e-mail. “But if things continue the way they are, I don’t envision any planning or fund raising for the tremendous undertaking that Dillon’s expansion will be before 2013, at the earliest. Hopefully that changes.”