Thursday, February 11, 2010

Joint West Campus Committee

All City of Madison Agendas, Minutes, and Meeting dates & times can be found on the following website:

http://legistar.cityofmadison.com/calendar/search.aspx

Next to the committee body tab select committee of interest and the year of interest then click on search.

Joint West Campus Committee

December 2009 Joint West Meeting

Rob Kennedy, with UW Transportation Services, provided an overview of the UW Commuter Solutions (formerly the campus TDM - Transportation Demand Management) program. The UW currently has approximately 42,000 students and approximately 22,000 employees including UW Hospital staff. Visitors are currently upwards of 4.6 million per year across the campus. TDM efforts generally have an overall goal to reduce the demand for driving alone to and from campus and to provide a variety of alternatives to single occupancy vehicles on campus.

Important planning processes related to TDM efforts include the 2005 Campus Master Plan, the UW’s long range transportation plan (as part of the overall 2005 Campus Master Plan), and coordination with major projects and their development across campus. Managing parking is an important part of the overall commuter solutions plan. As part of the overall master plan and in negotiations with the city of Madison and local neighborhoods, the campus has capped parking on campus at approximately 13,000 parking spaces including all permit and visitor parking spaces. Also, a goal in the 2005 Campus Master Plan is to replace surface parking with more efficient parking structures in key locations. Currently the UW also has over 9,400 bicycle parking spaces on campus and approximately 1,900 mopeds, the latter of which must park only in designated moped parking areas.

Walking and pedestrian facilities are also an important transportation system across campus. The overall pedestrian system is made up of strong sidewalk design standards, strong accessibility standards, bike/pedestrian paths and bridges, and the SAFEwalk program for students on campus. The campus “lightway” is still being used across campus to direct students to a well lit sidewalk path for nighttime travel.

Bicycle facility improvements are increased across campus including new bike lanes, new bike/paths, a new mixed use pedestrian/bike mall (East Campus Mall), and approximately 9,000 bicyclists on campus on any given day.

The current campus bus system provides 30,000 service hours with 2.2 million rides per year. The overall cost is shared between UW Transportation Services and the Associated Students of Madison. The campus bus routes are the most productive routes in the overall Madison Metro system. The unlimited bus pass program is provided to all faculty, staff and students with funding coming from segregated student fees (for students) and funding from Transportation Services (for faculty and staff). This program provides approximately 50% of the budgeted income for Madison Metro.

Alan Fish and Pete Heaslett (FP&M staff) provided an overview on the status of the proposed Wisconsin Energy Institute project. The project is a two-phase development that will likely be constructed over time. The second phase may happen immediately after the first phase if project funding becomes available. The first phase is a $50 million project with an office block on the south side of the building and a lab block on the north side. This helps reduce the size of the building on the south respecting the height of the church nave across the street. Alan Fish noted that the city is working with the university to redesign the overall intersection of University Avenue, Breese Terrace and Campus Drive. Options include a T-intersection of either Campus Drive to University Avenue or the other way around (University Avenue T into Campus Drive). The city has delayed reconstruction of the intersection from what was a proposed summer 2010 project.

The overall draft site plan was presented showing Phase 1 development on the old University Health Service site at 1552 University Avenue. The main entry is on University Avenue in line with Breese Terrace. A coffee shop/café is located on the southeast corner of the building on the first floor which has the potential of being a nice community asset for the campus users as well as the neighbors in the area. The Phase 2 draft site plan was also shared with further development to the west on the existing ROTC site. (ROTC would be relocated elsewhere on campus.) Alan reminded the group that these are very front end designs for the building and input is welcome. The same preliminary plans are being presented to the campus Design Review Board tomorrow and to the State Department of Administration’s peer review as well.

Pete Heaslett review the proposed building floor plans. First floor has mostly public visitor space with education and outreach spaces, the coffee/café, reception, conference spaces, main lobby, etc. Floors 2 through 5 are labs and offices. The main tenant is the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center doing bioenergy and renewable energy research. A central light well divides the office wing from the lab wing bringing daylight into the two parts of the building.

Pete also shared the early concept renderings of the exterior of the building. The office wing is slightly taller than the nave of the church. The lab wing is higher with the mechanical penthouse spaces that are about the same height as the Enzyme Institute to the west. The east end of the building is fairly clear and transparent that helps minimize the visual impact on the historic church to the south. Exterior materials have yet to be defined. The high walls around the mechanical penthouse helps reduce the noise generated by the HVAC systems.

Bike parking is located under an overhang along the south side of the building in Phase 1. Commuter showers are included inside the building for bicyclists. Additional bike parking would be provided under Phase 2 development.

Stormwater management is being reviewed for potential on-site infiltration through possible rain garden designs.

Alan shared a parking analysis for the facility that looks at what was existing on site with the old University Health Services building comparing it to the proposed parking for the new building. The UW district parking program provides parking for users in an area of campus and not for specific buildings. The number of occupants will be similar in the new building with most likely much less visitor traffic. Existing parking will be lost on site (about 50 parking spaces). Within the district we have a similar amount with new parking at Union South. It was noted that the majority of the Regent Street neighborhood (Regent Street to University Avenue and from Breese Terrace to Allen Street) parking is under 2 hour parking restrictions.

The entire building is approximately 100,000 gross square feet (both phases together is 200,000 GSF). Each floor is about 20,000 GSF in Phase 1.

Projected schedule is for construction to start in the end of summer 2010 with completion in the summer of 2012.

Union Council - January 2010

Union Council Meeting of January 21, 2010

Ms. Zhang reported tabling the naming of the new south campus union building until February 2. She said that adequate information had not yet been obtained. She said Mr. Guthier will lead a meeting for those interested in discussing the issue on Friday, January 22, 12:15 p.m. In response to Mr. Rolling’s question whether Ms. Zhang or Mr. Guthier met with Chancellor Martin, Mr. Guthier shared that he has talked with the Chancellor, and she wants to ensure students have input in the process. She said she also hoped both Union Council and ASM would work out the process.

Mr. Guthier announced the Memorial Union project RFP for architects/engineers will be going “on the street” this week. Projected dates for architect interviews are March or April. Mr. Guthier said that construction is approximately 14 days behind schedule at this time. He also said the project is tracking to be on budget.

Mr. Walter distributed the December preliminary financial report which indicates a year-to-date net loss of over $300,000. He noted that units build budgets from the bottom up and those are rolled together in one larage, complex budget. He said the budget will be presented for approval at the February 2 Union Council meeting. In order to save time at that meeting, the officers suggested not using a full hour presentation, and he is willing to meet with those Council members requesting more detail. Mr. Walter reported that positions have been frozen and that revenue is down.

Mr. Rolling suggested contacting SSFC prior to presenting the Union budget. Mr. Walter said that he, Mr. Guthier and Ms. Zhang are attempting to meet with the SSFC chair to review questions in advance.

Two other issues addressed include the Memorial Union renovation oversight/student involvement and the Union's student leadership structure for 2010-2011.

The oversight/student involvement structure keeps the original Design Committee structure, but it also attempts to make improvements from the Union South project structure by 1) adding an executive committee to serve as a more defined intermediary among Union Council, the architects, and other entities involved in the process and 2) shifting much of the initial planning discussions to input groups with the hope of freeing the Design Committee to focus more on bigger picture items like budget and overall project priorities. The five member executive committee will consist of the Union President, the Student Project Manager (described below), a student Design Committee member selected by the Design Committee, the Union Director, and the other Union staff member on the Design Committee. The fifteen member Design Committee will keep the same format promised in the 2006 funding referendum. Applications for the Design Committee should be sought sometime this semester, with the first meeting likely occurring in early May or before.

On a somewhat related issue, Union Council also addressed the student leadership structure for the 2010-2011 academic year. Eliminating the previous Vice President for Project Management officer position, two new positions - VP for Leadership Development and Student Project Manager - were created. The VP for Leadership Development will work to enhance existing efforts to train student leaders within the Union's student programming board. The position will also work to strengthen partnerships across campus. The Student Project Manager will work with the Union President to coordinate the design of the Memorial Union renovation.

The Union is currently seeking applications for 2010-2011 officer positions, which include Union President, VP for Program Administration, VP for Public Relations, and VP for Leadership Development. Applications are available here.

Spring Union Council Schedule:
February 23
March 4
March 25
April 15
May 7

Posted by Michael Nemmetz and Dan Cornelius

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Central Madison Business Improvement District (BID) Board

The BID Board met on Thursday, Feb 4th. It was a lengthy meeting concerning several issues, including:
  • 2009 Year in Review, 2010 Forecast
  • Review of Assessment Methods for the BID (All property owners within the BID pay extra taxes that funds the BID - streetscape, planters, marketing, etc.)
  • Review of Recommended Amendements to the Alcohol License Density Ordinance (ALDO) - This ordinance regulates the issuance of liquor licenses to new businesses. The Board is advocating abolishing the ordinance or making it more flexible. If you have any questions about this, please let me know.

More importantly to students, we also had a presentation on summer construction plans by the City of Madison Engineering Dept. Major projects include:

  • Broom St - both lanes, from Doty to Johnson St, will be closed all summer
  • Observatory Dr and Langdon St in front of the Memorial Union
  • Sidewalk improvements around the Capitol Square, all summer
  • Intersection of Park St and University Ave, most of summer but with lanes open
  • 200 block of West Gilman
  • Peace Park construction on State St - March to Sept.

The City's Engineering Dept. website (www.cityofmadison.com/engineering) will have more information on summer projects in the next few weeks.

Memorial Library Committee

The Memorial Library Committee met this afternoon (2/10/2010).

Among the discussion topics...
  • The Memorial staff is happy to announce that the library classroom will relocate from the fourth to the second floor. The relocation brings it closer to other public services, and will offer a more open and user-friendly space. Most important to the student body, this move will allow the classroom to serve as study space when not in instructional use, including access to the approximately 20 computer work stations. Every little bit of extra space and computer access helps, especially during midterm and finals weeks.
  • The library system will be looking for a new solution for remote shelving of low-circulation materials. University facilities management personnel have determined that a remote location in Verona will not be able to accommodate special needs associated with preservation of library materials. Back to the drawing board for this project. When you've been collecting materials for 160 years, you need a lot of space.
  • The library system may see a 5-10% cut in student staffing budgets. A detailed plan will be developed once a specific budget is determined.
  • The overall collections budget may see an 8% cut. Recent years' budget reductions have been made up through alternate funding sources but those sources do not appear to be available in the coming year. When inflation is considered, this potential reduction translates to about 10% less buying power. As the library reduces it's acquisition of materials, it will rely more on inter-library loans. It was noted that in the past few years, the UW library has become a net borrower, receiving more loaned materials than loaning out materials. Thus the library pays out more inter-library loan fees than it takes in.
The Shared Government Committee is allowed two seats on the Memorial Library Committee (one graduate and one undergraduate student) Currently, the undergraduate seat remains vacant. Students have the opportunity to voice concerns about Memorial Library through these committee positions. Undergraduate concerns may be relayed through me if there are any.

--Dave Wilcox, graduate student committee rep

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Advisory Committee to ODOS, Minutes 2/4/10 (Formerly Non-Academic Misconduct Panel)

1. Discussed ODOS Budget Update
2. ODOS in need of extra space for growth and development. Will propose to appropriate committee for increase and relocation of the office. Space will become available once Union South opens in Spring 2011.
3. Discussion about inappropriate fan behavior at Badger games. ODOS will consider involving UW student athletes and coaches to engage and encourage more appropriate discourse.
4. Discussed proper procedures for testing accommodations for first generation students (i.e. extra time). A member brought to our attention that there is an already established procedure (within Diversity Texts) that the professor of an individual course may grant additional support and accommodation for the first generation students.

Please respond to Item 4 with suggestions. Thanks!

Roxy Godiwalla

The Associated Students of Madison Shared Governance Committee Blog serves as a space for shared governance appointees and the UW-Madison student body to communicate on issues relating to shared governance. As part of their responsibilities as student representatives, appointees will post a report following each meeting attended.